A Business Plan
by Willowsnake
Summary: Sequel to My Fair Puppy. Taking place about a week later, Seto and Joey find themselves partnered up for another school project...for Economics. They need to create a business! Seto's not too happy with the idea, but can Joey change his mind? REVISED!
1. Sunday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Summary**: Sequel to My Fair Puppy. Taking place about a week later, Seto and Joey find themselves partnered up for another school project, this time for Economics. They need to create a...business? Seto's not too happy with the idea, but can Joey change his mind?

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Sunday**

"Puppy, I know you're happy and everything, but can you please stop skipping? You're making me dizzy," Seto chuckled amusedly as they strolled up to the Kaiba Mansion.

"I can't help it!" Joey cried enthusiastically. "My cast is off! My cast is off!"

"And if you don't calm down, it's going to be back on," commented Seto when Joey stumbled some on the walkway.

That made the blond stop abruptly. "You're right. I should probably take it easy, huh?"

"Yeah. How _is _your wrist anyway? Does it hurt?"

"No. It's just a bit stiff. I'm not sure how it'll be when I start drawing again. I need time to loosen up."

"Just draw a sketch or two a day until you feel you're back to normal," Seto suggested. "I don't want you straining yourself."

"Says the man who won't stop working for his company."

Seto sighed. They were going to have _this _conversation again. "Puppy, I told you already. I have a lot of catching up to do since I took so much time off to look after you. And with everything that's been going on, I've neglected my duties as CEO of a major company."

"I understand, Seto. But just because you're the CEO doesn't mean you have to dabble in every facet of your corporation. Haven't you ever thought of hiring some trustworthy underlings who can oversee the major departments of the company?"

"As you very well know, I don't trust others that easily," said the brunet as he and the blond ventured into the mansion.

"I know, I know," Joey sighed. "But hasn't anyone proved themselves trustworthy and experienced enough to take over certain branches of the company? You can hire managers or directors for certain departments and they can call and check into you. That would take some of the burden off of you, wouldn't it?"

"I don't know," Seto replied helplessly.

He didn't _like _trusting others, especially when it came to something he valued and treasured so deeply. _He'd _been the one to convert Kaiba Corp. into a gaming company, _he'd _been the one to make it flourish, no one else. Sure there were his employees—who worked diligently for him—but he figured it was out of fear of him rather than their wanting to improve the gaming industry.

"You really have some control issues we need to deal with," said Joey as if he were making some sort of final decision.

"And you have some meddling issues we need to deal with," Seto retorted snidely.

"I'm only trying to help you!" Joey snapped. "Haven't you figured it out by now that I _care _about you? That I _worry _when you spend more time working than eating and sleeping _combined_. You're _always_ stressed, and if you _are _having problems at work, you don't want to talk about them. All I want to do is help you, Seto. And I can't stand it when you don't trust me enough to let me. I just want to see you happy and healthy. That's all I want."

Seto just stood there and stared at him. It was becoming routine now. Whenever Joey would call him on something and argue his point, Seto would stand there and contemplate until he came up with a response. He knew they had to communicate—which was something…new, in a way, to him—and this was just his process at the moment for doing so.

"Joey…"

"Look. Just take it one department at a time. Hire someone to lead a department and just let it go for a couple weeks and then move on to the next department. Use the same process over and over until all areas are covered. It'll give you time to…adjust. Baby steps, Seto. Baby steps," Joey concluded.

Seto paused for a moment, thinking. "Fine. We'll give it a try. But I want…" Seto's voice trailed off as he changed his mind about what he wanted to say.

"What do you want, Seto?" Joey asked, placing his arms around the brunet's waist. "Tell me."

"I want you there when I interview people for the department head positions. You read people well. I…don't."

"Not everyone is out there to get you, Seto," Joey consoled.

"My experience says otherwise."

"Okay. I'll interview people with you, but only if you let me ask questions as well."

"They're not going to be stupid questions are they?" Seto inquired, raising an eyebrow.

"No. Why would I ask stupid questions? I would never do anything to jeopardize you or your company," Joey replied earnestly.

"I know," Seto sighed once more, resting his chin atop his Puppy's head. "I know."

"So…do you want me to help you create a job listing for Human Resources or—"

"I _know _how to create a job listing! I do run a successful business!" Seto protested loudly.

Joey laughed in response. "I'm just teasing, Seto. But let me know when you have some applicants. We'll set up the time and place to interview, okay?"

"Sure. But only _one _position at a time. And if I don't like it, they're gone."

"You need to give them a chance, though. What about if they have a probationary period? You know, like they have ninety days or something to prove whether or not they can handle the job. If not, you release them from the job and move on to the next, more qualified candidate."

"When did you become such an expert at running a company?"

"I wouldn't call myself an expert. We haven't even tried my idea yet. But we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"I guess we will." Seto paused before a smirk crossed his features. He might as well change the mood. And besides, he was in the perfect position to do so. "Your cast is off."

Joey raised his head slowly so that he could look at the brunet. "Yeah. Your point?"

"Don't you remember what you said, Puppy?"

"About what?"

"About what we get to do once your cast is off?" Seto hinted, lowering his hands to Joey's ass before giving both cheeks a firm squeeze.

"Seto!" Joey screeched. "I only just got it off! Eeh! Would you stop that? Seto!"

The brunet started laughing at Joey's antics. "So, the Puppy isn't ready?"

Joey glared at him. But then an idea crossed his mind. Two could play at this game. "We have school tomorrow, Seto. And besides, Friday is our day. I think the both of us will be _ready _by then. Don't you?" the blond stated seductively, trailing his hand up Seto's torso. He smirked when he felt the brunet tremble under his fingertips.

"That doesn't mean we still can't have some fun," Seto replied, letting his own hands do some groping of their own, much to his Puppy's embarrassment.

"Ack! No! Bad Seto! How about you actually take me out on a date first?" Joey protested.

The roaming hands ceased. "Sure."

Joey looked at him skeptically. That had been far too easy. "Okay," he started slowly. "Where are you taking me?"

Suddenly, Seto lunged, picking up the blond and throwing him over his shoulder. "Our bedroom."

"Seto!" Joey cried. "That's not a date, you idiot! Now put me down!"

It really was too bad his pleas fell on deaf ears. Having a date for a change might have done them a great deal of good. Then again, having Seto get all lovey-dovey in public probably wasn't such a good idea.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	2. Monday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Monday**

"What's wrong, Pup?" Seto asked when Joey stepped out of his third period class. Since they didn't have third together, Seto would stop by his class and then they'd walk to fourth together. And currently, Joey wasn't looking particularly happy.

"I heard that we have a project for Econ," Joey grumbled, taking Seto's hand as they walked to their next class, which just so happened to be Economics. "Is there some sort of pledge teachers take that forces them to give seniors a bunch of projects near the end of the year right before they graduate? Because if so, they're succeeding."

Seto stifled a groan. He _really _didn't want to have to do another school project, particularly because teachers had a tendency to create the pairs or groups themselves. It was just one of those cruel things some teachers did.

"If we really _do _have to do a project, I really hope it's something simple," commented Seto.

"If we _are _having a project, it won't be anywhere near simple. It's Econ."

Seto and Joey finally reached their class, took their seats, and sat down, anxiously awaiting instructions for their so-called project.

When everyone was seated—this class included the normal gang: Tristan, Tea, Duke, Yugi, Yami, Ryou, Bakura, Malik, and Marik—their Economics teacher, Mr. Skien entered the room looking absolutely smug.

"Good morning, class. I see that you all seem excited about today. You've heard the news, I suppose."

"What? You're being fired?" cackled Marik, which caused the entire class to burst out in laughter.

Mr. Skein's face turned beet red. It did that whenever he was extremely angry, but he never erupted. Never.

"No," he said, surprisingly calm. "I was referring to your end-of-the year Economics Project. You'll be creating your own business."

Seto sank in his seat. Great. This was all he needed. A project on how to create a business. Why the hell did he have to do this, anyway? He'd already started a business, and successful at that!

At that point, everyone else seemed to be in as foul a mood as Seto, except for Joey. He appeared to be intrigued by the idea.

"For your project," Mr. Skein continued, "you will create a standard business plan outline. This needs to consist of all that we've discussed in this class on businesses. You'll need to have an executive summary, a company description, a product or service, a market analysis, a strategy and implementation, a web plan summary, a management team, and a financial analysis. You'll then build your plan and then organize it."

"So…do we get to do this in groups or something?" Tristan asked, making everyone cringe. Group work was unreasonable, to say the least, especially when you were paired with someone you couldn't get along with…and who didn't want to do anything.

"Yes. You'll be working in groups; however, I will let you choose what groups you'd like to be in. Additionally, there is no limit to how many people can be in a group," answered Mr. Skein, much to the delight of all of the students, aside from Seto, of course.

Seeing that everyone was delighted by this prospect, Mr. Skein continued. "I want everyone to get into groups and I'll pass out the requirements for the assignment out to everyone. This project will be due by the end of next week."

As Mr. Skein went to his desk to gather their handouts, Joey turned to face Seto, but before he could say anything, the brunet cut him off.

"Just because I already run a company does not mean I want to partake in this stupid project. I have better things to do with my time. I am not, and I repeat, _not _going to do this myself and have your friends tag along for the ride," Seto stated firmly.

Joey looked momentarily shocked before getting angry. "I wasn't even going to suggest that," the blond hissed. "I actually have an idea that you truly might find worth your time. Although, I _was _going to indicate that _our _friends join in because we're going to need all the help we can get."

Seto huffed. "What did you have in mind?" he asked reluctantly.

"I'll tell you the details later," Joey snapped, turning away from him. "I can handle everything else, but I will need your help when it comes to the financial analysis part. I don't know much about that. And besides, if we do a decent job on this project, you might have something to work with in the future."

Frowning, Seto looked at Joey curiously. Just what did his little Puppy have in mind exactly? Sighing, the brunet reached out to grab Joey's hand. "I'm sorry for lashing out at you. I just assumed that since I've already created a business of my own that people would try to take advantage of my experience in order to do well on this project. I'm sorry for taking that out on you."

Joey turned so that he was facing Seto again. "So you don't mind if I'm in control of this business project?"

"No, I don't mind. But if you _do _have any questions, you can ask me. So how many of your friends do we have to involve?"

"All of them," Joey answered, much to Seto's dismay, if the sour look on his face were any indication. "Don't worry. I have simple tasks in mind for the more outgoing members."

Seto nodded reluctantly, letting Joey know that he agreed, albeit _reluctantly_! Soon after, Joey scampered off, gathering his friends one by one. When they were all seated in an awkward looking circle, Joey began passing around the handouts Mr. Skein had given them.

"According to the directions, we get to spend time in class everyday working on our projects," started Joey.

"What are we gonna do?" asked Tristan.

"Well, uh, I sort of have an idea, but I'll like to get my thoughts together before I tell you guys. Is tomorrow a good enough time to tell you what it is? Because I think I can have roles assigned by then, too. It won't be too demanding and it'll play to your interests," answered Joey sheepishly.

_Now _Seto was intrigued. Just what was his Puppy up to?

"Sounds good to me," said Bakura. "Now can someone explain these stupid requirement things?" he asked, indicating the handout.

"I'll do it," replied Joey. "Okay, so for our standard business plan outline, the first thing we need to have is an executive summary. We should probably do this one last, though, because it's supposed to be a page or two of the highlights of our business."

"I think I can understand that," stated Yami.

"The next thing is the company description. This is supposed to contain…the start-up plans, legal establishment, and…history."

"The next section on the product or service seems pretty self explanatory," said Tea. "Basically, you'd be describing what product you're selling or service you're providing. And you'd also focus on customer benefits, right?"

"Yeah," agreed Joey. "For market analysis we'll need to know our market, what the needs of the customers are, where the customers are, and how to reach them."

"And strategy and implementation?" asked Malik.

"Well, I would assume you would need to be specific and include the management responsibilities with budgets and dates," replied Ryou. "And we would also need to make sure that we can track the results."

"And the web plan summary is basically for e-commerce. I assume we need to include a discussion of a website…which means we need to create a website," added Duke. "It should also include operations, developments costs, and…marketing and sales strategies."

"Then for the management team we need to describe the organization itself and the key management team members," continued Joey.

"So what about financial analysis?" inquired Yugi.

"With financial analysis we'll need to include, at the very least, our projected profit and loss and cash flow tables," said Seto. "I'll handle that when the time comes."

"Okay. So now that we've gone over the requirements, I'll work on the general idea for our project tonight and come back with a rough sketch of it for everyone tomorrow. I'll even have roles assigned for everyone. And if it's something you don't want to do, we can work it out later, but it should be fun," stated Joey.

"Sounds like a plan," said Tristan. Then the gang started talking amongst themselves, figuring there was nothing else for them to discuss.

"Would you mind letting me in on your little secret, Pup?" Seto asked quietly.

"Not really," Joey teased. Then he laughed. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I'll tell you when you get home. It might be best just to show you."

"I guess this does sound like a plan."

* * *

"Did you have to destroy our room?" asked Seto as he glanced around the untidy surroundings. "Just what the hell were you looking for?"

"This," replied Joey, waving a long, flat wooden box in front of his face. "We'll take a look at it in the living room. That way a maid can clean up in here."

Seto rolled his eyes, but followed his Puppy downstairs anyway. When they finally reached the living room, the two plopped themselves down onto the couch.

Joey opened the wooden box and pulled out numerous sheets of paper that looked to be a few years old at least. He passed each sheet to Seto separately. It was then that the brunet noticed they were drawings.

"What's this?" Seto asked as he eyed the sketches of various looking buildings. They were exquisite and intricately detailed.

"My idea for our project."

"And that would be?"

The blond suddenly grew silent, which worried the brunet a bit.

"Puppy, tell me what it is you want to do?"

"Just…I…" Joey paused, trying to find the right words. "Ever since I started dueling, I've had a fascination with creating my own duel monsters. I'm very passionate about them, and so are so many people at school. I don't think how much you realize you've helped impact the world with bringing these cards to life with Kaiba Corp. So I kind of had it in my mind that it would be great if you could—one day—create a school for duelists around high school age."

"A school for duelists?" echoed Seto. That was interesting. Why hadn't he ever thought of this before? "How long have you had this idea?"

"A couple years now."

"And you choose _now _to tell me?" Seto exclaimed. Something like this—a school for duelists—it was genius!

"It's not like we were great friends before! Would you have actually listened to me?"

"Point taken. I'm just a bit excited about this idea. What exactly did you have in mind? I mean, how far along have you thought about this? Are these the designs for the school itself? What would be taught? What about uniforms? And dorms? There need to be dorms! And then there are mascots to think about! With all the Duel Monsters out there, how—"

"Seto! Calm the fuck down!" Joey giggled.

He hadn't seen Seto so excited about a project before. It had been so long since he'd seen the brunet happy about working on something he loved. After a while, it seemed like Seto had lost his passion for Duel Monsters and his company. Perhaps this was the direction Seto needed to take to get it all back.

"Sorry, Pup. It's just I've never thought about doing something like this."

"And the best part of it is that we have many of the top ranking duelists in the world in our group for this project. It'll be great insight for how we should go about this," added Joey.

"Yeah," replied Seto as he gazed back down at Joey's drawings. He was excited. _This _was something he really wanted to do.

And the best part of it was…he was going to be doing something he loved with the person he loved.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	3. Tuesday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Tuesday**

Joey smiled proudly down at the fresh sketchbook he held in his hands as he walked down the hallway. He'd spent most of last night drawing up new sketches for their business project, and he couldn't wait to share them with the others.

But it was about a half an hour before he had to leave with Seto for school, so at least he could show him now. Although, it wasn't like he could show Seto last night. As soon as he'd gotten the brunet to calm down about their project, Seto had bolted and said he'd be back later.

Joey had been a little hurt by that, to be honest, but it did give him the time he needed to do his new sketches. And he was quite pleased by them.

"Joey! Need to talk to you! Now!" Mokuba said hurriedly, grabbing Joey by the arm and practically throwing him into the nearest bathroom.

"Mokuba, what—"

_Slam!_

Mokuba shut the door and frantically locked the lock before facing Joey, a look on his face that showed fear and embarrassment. "I need to talk to you," he repeated anxiously.

"Okay," Joey replied slowly. "What is it that you need to talk to me about?" The blond didn't know _what_the hell was going on. He'd never seen Mokuba look so disheveled before.

"I don't know how it happened!" Mokuba cried. "I tried to talk to Seto about it this morning, but it didn't go too well! I didn't know who else to come to!"

Joey was honored that Mokuba felt he trusted him enough to confide in him, but he still would have liked to know what was going on. Being thrown into situations like these—quite literally, actually—were never good.

"Mokuba, just calm down and tell me what's bothering you. And why it didn't go so well with Seto," he added as an afterthought.

The small boy took a deep breath. "J-Just please don't get mad at me," he pleaded.

Joey's heart immediately softened. "I won't be mad. I promise.

Mokuba finally calmed down after that. "Well…this morning I gave Serenity a charm bracelet. We've become really good friends and I really like her."

The blond just stood back and listened to him explain, but the faint blush on Mokuba's face didn't go unnoticed by him.

"She got really happy and she thanked me a-and she hugged me and then…" Mokuba stopped and dropped his gaze to the floor.

"And then what?" Joey asked soothingly. "It okay, Mokuba. Tell me."

"Um…it's too…" Instead of saying it outright, Mokuba pulled Joey down to his level and whispered something in his ear, making the blond's face show slight amusement.

"You got an…erection?" Joey inquired, trying to clarify what Mokuba had told him.

"Don't say it!" Mokuba hissed, his face turning bright red.

"So let me get this straight…Serenity hugged you and then you got hard? Did she accidently rub you there or—"

"She didn't touch me anywhere near there! It just happened!" Mokuba argued. He was starting to hyperventilate. "I-I-I don't know! This has never happened before!"

Then suddenly, it clicked in Joey's mind. Mokuba was ten going on eleven. Now was about the right time for Mokuba to start having regular erections…which meant masturbation was soon going to become normal for him. Goody. A new talk that _he_was probably going to have to handle and _not_Seto.

"Mokuba, you're hitting puberty. This is actually quite normal for someone your age. Some boys get it when they're younger, others when they're older. There's nothing to be ashamed of. Is that it? Are you ashamed of what happened?"

"Well…no, it's just…what if it happens again and Serenity notices?"

"I think we're going to have to have a long talk about this after school. Seto—"

"I don't want to talk to Seto about it," Mokuba cut in. "I want to talk to you."

"Okay," Joey replied unsurely. "But I'll still have to speak with Seto about this. For right now, though, if you're really concerned about Serenity noticing, just wear some really loose pants until we have our talk. Now that I think about it, I should have a talk with Serenity, too."

Besides, as far as he knew, Serenity hadn't yet hit puberty…officially. She was twelve, but she hadn't said anything about…having her time of the month. _Yet_.

Joey closed his eyes, mentally bracing himself for the inevitable. They _really_needed to have a talk. But he wasn't sure how well this sort of think would go with Seto.

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Mokuba! I know you're in here! Open up this door right now!" Seto's voice roared from behind the door. Both Mokuba and Joey jumped. He sounded furious!

"What the hell did you tell him?" Joey asked softly.

Mokuba's eyes widened. "You know how he is in the morning! I panicked! I asked him how he was able to hide his…you know…erection from you for so long."

"You what?" Joey cried. Oh, yeah! That was the _perfect_way to talk to Seto about personal issues.

"After I said that, he started choking on his coffee. So I ran up here to find you and talk to you instead. Is he really that mad at me?" Mokuba actually looked scared.

Joey ruffled the small boy's hair lovingly. "I'll talk to him. You won't be punished for anything. I promise."

And when Joey unlocked the door, Seto came barreling in. "Mokuba, you are grounded for life!"

"Mokuba, go find Serenity and head for school. Seto and I need to have a little talk. And you're _not_grounded," Joey said.

Mokuba didn't have to hear _that_twice, because he ran off as soon as Joey gave him the okay.

"What the—no! He is grounded!" Seto declared.

"No, he's not. Mokuba and I had a little talk and I know what's going on. He was just afraid to talk to you, so it kind of came out wrong," the blond explained.

Seto mellowed after that. "He…was afraid to talk to me?" he inquired helplessly. "Why would he be afraid to talk to me? Did I do something—"

"No! Seto, you didn't do anything wrong," Joey blurted when he noticed Seto looking like a kicked dragon. "It was just an uncomfortable conversation for him to have and it was…unlike anything he's ever gone to talk to you about before."

"Okay," Seto replied doubtfully. "So he talked to you? What about?"

"Seto, Mokuba's growing up. He happened to notice himself getting an erection this morning and it freaked him out some. He's hit puberty. And I promised I'd talk to him after school today. I'll need to talk to Serenity, too."

"Puberty?" Seto looked like he'd just swallowed lemon juice. His little brother couldn't be hitting puberty. He was…his _little_ brother for crying out loud! "How can he hit puberty?"

"He's ten, Seto. Almost eleven. It was bound to happen sooner or later."

"But…why does he want to talk to you? Why not me?" Seto was starting to sound helpless again.

"Well…I guess there are just some things he feels more comfortable with talking to me about. What's going on with his body is just one of them. Now tell me, would you be comfortable having this conversation with Mokuba?"

Seto started fiddling with his hands. "Probably not…"

"I'm still going to fill you in on everything. I just think Mokuba feels embarrassed talking about this sort of thing in front of you. Do you understand? Don't hold it against him or anything. He loves you more than anything. It's just that this is an area of conversation you two apparently haven't covered before. I guess it just felt natural for him to come to me."

"That's because you're nurturing…like a mother or something. He senses that you won't judge him in any way, but I guess he believes I will."

"That's why you two need to talk to him and spend some quality time together. There will be some things that I won't be able to explain to Serenity, so I'll probably ask Tea for help when that time comes, but all I can do is let her know that she can come to me for anything."

"You're right," replied Seto, his dour mood lifting. "I guess I really should spend more time at home."

"See. I told you so. Now let's get to school, otherwise we're going to be late."

* * *

"Can you please tell me why you're carrying _two_briefcases today instead of _one_?" asked Joey for the millionth time that day. He was getting tired of seeing the two briefcases. Seto had been carrying them all morning and would _not_tell him why he had them. "Please?"

"You'll see when we get into Econ," Seto smirked.

Joey just rolled his eyes and trudged into class. His friends were already there, eager and waiting.

"Well, what are we gonna do for this project?" Tristan asked excitedly.

Seto and Joey just smiled before taking their seats.

"You guys really want to know?" Joey teased.

They nodded eagerly.

"You guys really, _really_ want to know?" he continued.

"Will you just tell us already before I hit you with this stupid Econ book?" snapped Tea.

"Ooh! Someone's PMS-ing today," hooted Bakura, earning himself a particularly evil glare from Tea.

"All right, all right. Calm down," began Joey. "Our business plan project is going to be something everyone here will enjoy."

"And if all goes well," continued Seto, "we might actually make a go with it. Which means I may have a business offer for you at the end of this, Devlin."

Duke perked up at that. "Oh? So what is it that we're doing?"

Joey pulled out his sketchbook and started pulling out the individual sheets of paper he had for his design. After he started passing around the sketches of the individual buildings, he said, "We are going to be creating a Duel Academy."

"A Duel Academy?" Yami asked, intrigued. "You mean like a school for duelists?"

Joey nodded. "These pictures I'm passing around are the designs of the main academy building and the dorms, which are divided into three levels."

"Three levels?" inquired Seto. Apparently Joey had spent a _lot_of time thinking about this.

"Yes. Well, there are three rankings for Duel Academy, but I'll get to that in a moment. First, let me explain what it is," continued Joey. "Duel Academy is basically a school that trains duelists to a…professional level, if you will. The school would have your basic classes that you need to take in high school, but you'll also have classes that instruct you in dueling. There would be written exams as well as dueling exams."

"This is so cool!" exclaimed Yugi.

"I'm not done yet," said Joey. "Basically, the plan would be to prepare duelists for the Pro League."

"And what's the Pro League?" asked Tristan.

"It's the circle of the highest ranking duelists in the world. The plan would be that duelists would be recruited after they graduate from Duel Academy by sponsors, such as Kaiba Corp. or Industrial Illusions. But we're talking on a worldly scale here."

"That's amazing," Seto said breathlessly. "What else? Can you talk about the rankings?"

"Well, firstly, there are three rankings; therefore, three dorms. The lowest ranking is Slifer Red and they only have one dorm. The second ranking is Ra Yellow and they also have a single dorm. The highest ranking is Obelisk Blue, but they have two dorms. One for the boys and one for the girls. Your grades will determine what your ranking is. The better your grades, the higher you can move up in rank and vice versa."

"You based the dorms off the Egyptian God Cards?" Marik asked.

"Yeah. But Obelisk Blue is the highest rank because Duel Academy will be a product of Kaiba Corp."

"And are there uniforms?" questioned Tea.

"Yes," answered Joey, going through his sketchbook again to find the sketches. "Slifer Red students have red jackets and red duel disks. Ra Yellow students have yellow jackets and yellow duel disks. Obelisk Blue students have blue jackets and blue duel disks. However, the student heads of each dorm have white jackets with trimming the color of their respective dorms, but the duel disks remain the same; there are no differences there."

"These outfits are to die for. But you only have sketches?" asked Tea.

"Yeah. And actually, now would be the right time to start assigning roles. Tea, I was wondering if you would make these uniforms. Just one set for each dorm, both male and female uniforms. Tristan can help you. When we present our project, you and Tristan can model them," said Joey.

"That is so great!" Tea exclaimed. "So I can keep these drawings for now?"

Joey nodded. "I'll give you the information for the place to pick up the materials you'll need. I've already set up a tab for you there, so you don't need to worry about paying for anything."

"Wait. I have to model? With her?" cried Tristan, looking appalled.

"Yes. And if you don't you'll find yourself without a group for this project," Joey stated firmly. This gave Tea the opportunity she needed to drag Tristan over to her so that they could discuss what they needed to get.

"What about me and Yugi? Do you have something for us to do?" inquired Yami. He was sitting on the edge of his seat.

"Since you and Yugi have similar strengths in dueling, the two of you will be describing what it is exactly that Duel Academy will provide as far as dueling goes. Don't forget to focus on the benefits."

"So…are we basically coming up with a dueling curriculum?" asked Yugi.

"Yeah, so go for it!"

Both Yugi _and_Yami squealed in delight. It was actually kind of scary.

"What about me and Ryou?" Bakura seemed very anxious to get in on this project.

"Well…I decided that Ryou should come up with a questionnaire for people—the customer—to fill out. It should cover everything, like what their needs are, where they are, and how we can reach them. This needs to relate to Duel Academy, of course. And Bakura, when Ryou goes out to have people fill out this questionnaire…you're going to ensure that they do. Think of it as you being Ryou's bodyguard. Just…glare at people. They'll fill it out."

Ryou wasn't sure if telling Bakura this was a good idea or not. He looked to be too happy about it. "And how many questionnaires do you need me to have filled out at minimum?"

"At minimum…I'd say about one hundred, but if you get more, that's great, too. Try to complete the questionnaire tonight and show it to me tomorrow. When I give you the okay, take an electronic copy to a copier place—we'll decided where later—and I'll set up a tab for you there. That way you'll make as many copies as you need."

"All right. Come, Bakura. Let's discuss what we need on the questionnaire. And _do_stop glaring at people," Ryou sighed.

"What about us?" shouted Malik and Marik.

Joey smirked. "I have very _big_plans for you two. I want you guys to find us a place—a _vacant_ place—to build Duel Academy. Got it? When you find someplace, come tell us."

"Okay!" they replied excitedly before scampering away.

"You just said that to get them out of your hair," said Duke.

"Sort of. It'll give them something to do since they both _love_exploring. We don't _need_a place right now, but if they _do_ find one, that's great as well."

"And what am I doing?" asked Duke.

"You'll be constructing our web plan summary. Since you already know what that is, you should have no problems. Whenever I get the information you need, I'll let you know. For now, though, you can start creating our website," offered Joey.

"I like the sound of that," said Duke as he reached into his book bag for his laptop. "This is actually going to be fun."

"I'm glad," replied Joey. "Now _you_, Seto, are in charge of the financial analysis. Plus, any input you might have would be greatly appreciated."

"So far, I'm enjoying everything. But I do have a little something for you," said Seto. He passed him the second briefcase he'd been carrying around all morning. "Open it."

Joey eyed it suspiciously, but opened the briefcase anyway. His jaw dropped. Inside was a brand new laptop. "This is for me?"

"Of course it is, Pup. Since we'll be working together on this business plan, I figured you'd need your own laptop for work. I mean…if you're going to be my partner at Kaiba Corp. you might as well."

"Wait…partner? What—"

"I meant to wait, but you just had so many great ideas and they just hit me all at once. You can help me improve Kaiba Corp. greatly. And you've brought back my passion for dueling and work. I want to make you co-CEO of Kaiba Corp."

Joey just gaped at him. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. Since we're going to be a part of each other's lives then…I want you to be equal to me in all ways. I don't like the thought that you might think you're…low class. You're not to me. And you already offered to help me interview possible department heads. So will you take the position?"

"I…I…Seto…"

"Joey, please."

The blond knew he was serious. The look in the brunet's eyes didn't waver. He really wanted him to be co-CEO at Kaiba Corp. In a weird way, this was Seto's way of saying that he saw him as an equal…and he trusted him enough to run the company, too.

"Okay," Joey answered breathlessly. "I'll be co-CEO of Kaiba Corp. And…it'll be a pleasure working _with_you."

Seto beamed. "Thank you so much, Puppy," he said, leaning in for a kiss.

Their lips met briefly before they pulled away. This was truly the start of a beautiful partnership.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	4. Wednesday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 4 – Wednesday**

Joey's "talk" with Mokuba yesterday evening had gone impeccably smooth. His "talk" with Serenity, however, had hit a wall, burst into flames, and exploded. He needed help. And not just anyone's help. A _girl's _help. Preferably _Tea's _help since she was the only girl he actually trusted.

"Seto?" Joey started as they began walking to Econ.

"Yes, Pup?" the brunet replied.

"Mokuba was invited to a sleepover this weekend by his friends, which means he'll be gone from Friday after school to Sunday morning."

"And?"

"Well, I'm thinking of asking Tea to let Serenity stay with her for the same period of time."

"Is there a _reason _behind this?" Seto asked, wondering at his Puppy's sudden bashful nature.

"I kind of need Tea's help with something regarding…Serenity's…_anatomy_ and her becoming a…um, young woman. You get the idea?"

"Aw, did the Puppy have problems with his conversation with his sister last night?" Seto teased.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you," Joey snapped. "Who was the one who kept paling whenever Mokuba asked a _detailed _question, hm? Because it definitely wasn't me."

"It's not that I didn't _want _to answer his questions," Seto argued. "It's just that…this feels so weird. I'm starting to feel more like a parent than a big brother and I'm…afraid of screwing something up. I don't want to turn out like…some parents do."

"I know what you mean," Joey replied softly, thinking of his own parents. There was no way in hell he'd turn out like them!

"Were you uncomfortable speaking with Serenity?" inquired Seto curiously.

"No. And she didn't seem to be uncomfortable speaking with me either. But my knowledge only goes so far. She needs a girl to talk to about more…_things _that a young woman experiences. Basically, she needs a firsthand account of what will happen to her body as she matures."

"So is that why you're sending her to Tea this weekend?"

"Well, there's that and I think she needs to have some girl time. Hanging out with Mokuba 24/7 can't be good for her."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seto demanded defensively.

"Let's just say that things are going to be getting a little weird at home soon."

Joey was not about to tell Seto that he got the feeling Mokuba and Serenity were starting to like each other just a little bit more than friends. Seto was already having a hard enough time dealing with the fact Mokuba was growing up. Throwing the bombshell that Mokuba was having his first crush would probably send him over the deep end.

"Ooh! There's Tea! I'm going to talk to her now before we continue with our project. I'll be right back."

As Seto watched Joey scamper off, he began wondering what Joey meant. Things were going to get weird? How? They'd only been talking about Mokuba and Serenity hitting puberty, so what was the big deal?

_Oh, God! _Seto thought frantically. _Puberty means DATING! I will not let ANYONE near those two! They will NOT date until they're…until they're…married! Yes. They won't date until they're married._

"Seto? Are you okay?" Joey had come back. And with the strange look Seto had on his face, he had to admit, he was a little worried.

The brunet's head shot up. "They're not dating until they're married," he said suddenly.

_Now,_ Joey was confused. "Seto, I know that made sense up here," he replied, tapping the brunet's head for emphasis, "but you lost me out here. What are you talking about?"

"Mokuba and Serenity aren't dating until they're married."

"Where the hell did that come from?"

"Puberty. Puberty means dating. No one is laying a hand on those two, so they're not dating until they're married."

"Are you even listening to yourself right now?" Joey asked, appalled by Seto's sudden irrational nature. "How would they even _get _married unless they date?"

Seto stared at him blankly. He hadn't thought of that. But then…how was he going to protect Mokuba…and Serenity from ever getting hurt. He couldn't bear the thought of either of them getting their hearts broken.

Seeing Seto's downcast look, Joey sat beside him and took his hand. "You worry too much, Seto."

"You don't worry enough."

"I worry plenty. They're growing up. You can't stop it. They'll have crushes, they'll fall in love, and they might even get their hearts broken, but that's all a part of life," said Joey as comfortingly as he could.

"It's just so hard picturing them growing up. I know I haven't known Serenity for that long, but she's like a baby sister to me."

"And Mokuba's like a baby brother to me," Joey added. As the silence grew between them, Joey decided that he should let Seto in on…a little secret. "What would you do…if I told you that Mokuba and Serenity liked each other?"

"But I know they like each other. They're best friends," replied Seto.

Joey resisted the urge to smack him. How could one genius be so…oblivious? "I don't mean 'like' as in friends. I mean 'like' as in...they _like _each other a bit more than friends."

It took a while for the information to sink in, but when it did—

"What?" Seto roared, jumping to his feet. Suddenly, unwanted images flashed before his eyes: Mokuba and Serenity growing up, them dating each other, them growing up, them getting married to each other, them growing up, them having children of their own together, them growing up…them not needing him…and Joey…anymore. Was _that _what he was afraid of?

"Seto, chill! I'm not saying they're going to get married! They just have a bit of a crush on each other! That's all!"

"I'm sorry, Joey. I just…forget it," Seto muttered, lowering himself back to his seat. To Joey, he looked worried about something.

"Why does this bother you so much?" Joey asked quietly.

"I don't want us to lose them," Seto said finally. "I don't want them to not need us anymore."

"That's never going to happen," replied Joey seriously. "We love them and they love us. Nothing can change that. They will grow up one day and they'll want to leave to go to college or see the world. But they'll come back."

Seto smiled halfheartedly. "You're right. I'm being unreasonable."

Joey frowned when Seto pulled out his laptop. He did that sometimes when he needed a distraction from his thoughts.

It was then Joey was coming to understand that Seto was afraid of losing his family again. The brunet had lost his parents then gained Gozaburo with his brother. He'd then lost Gozaburo, which led to Mokuba getting kidnapped, and then got Mokuba back again. Now he had Joey, Mokuba, and Serenity…and Seto was waiting for them to be snatched from him.

It was a pattern that had been ingrained in his mind. Seto was just waiting for it to happen again. He was waiting for them to leave him.

Joey reached out to rub Seto's back, but when he felt the brunet stiffen, he pulled his hand back. What could he do to make Seto feel better about this? Because if Seto started distancing himself again…all the dreams that Joey currently had for their future would be crushed.

And he didn't think he could handle that.

* * *

School had run smoothly, as usual, and their business project was working out perfectly. They'd made great progress. Everything was going well, but that was only for the project.

Seto had made himself scarce the rest of the day, leaving Joey alone in their bedroom. He currently had the laptop Seto had given him in his lap and he was scrolling through…an adoption agency.

The blond sighed as he looked through the photo listings of children who eagerly awaited adoption. As he neared the bottom of the first page, his arrow hesitated as he brought it above the number for page five. Did he dare?

Clicking on it, he scrolled down page five some until he saw a familiar picture. "You're still here," Joey said to himself. "Why doesn't anyone want you?"

Joey was referring to the little three-year-old boy he'd come across online one day as he skimmed through the adoption agency. It was all a part of his wishful thinking of adopting a child of his very own.

And one day he'd come across this little boy. That had been six months ago. He was still there, waiting to be adopted. Why didn't anyone want him?

Joey clicked on the boy's picture and started reading his profile for the thousandth time. The boy was completely healthy, loved to play games, and was a bundle of energy. He would have been the ideal son for _any _family, so why didn't anyone want him?

"I wish I could adopt you," Joey whispered breathlessly to the vacant room.

* * *

Seto reached their bedroom door. He'd been thinking a lot for the past few hours…about everything. And he felt better now. Joey had seen to wash away his fears. Mokuba and Serenity might leave them one day, but he'd still have his Puppy.

Suddenly a sniff, accompanied by the slamming shut of a laptop, jolted him from his thoughts. Was Joey crying?

Opening the door, he saw Joey rush into the bathroom. The blond hadn't even seen him. His eyes lingered to the bed where the laptop lay. Just what had upset his Puppy so much?

"Joey? Are you all right? Did something happen?" Seto asked worriedly as he stood in the bathroom's open doorway.

His Puppy spun around, looking horrified. "Seto! You're here!"

"Of course, I'm here," he replied, wiping Joey's tears away with his hands. "What's wrong, Puppy?"

And then Joey broke down into tears again. Seto, not really knowing what to do, pulled Joey into his arms and tried to get him to calm down. When that didn't seem to work, he picked the blond up and carried him to the bed.

"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong," Seto said anxiously. "Did I do something?"

"No. You didn't do anything," Joey sniffed.

"Then who did?" Seto asked, growing angry. Who had upset his Puppy?

"No one did anything. I was just…wishing for something I can't have."

Seto literally had to move closer to him in order to make out what he'd said. His Puppy was wishing for something he couldn't have? Like what? What could Joey possibly want that he couldn't give him?

"What do you want?"

Joey's eyes widened briefly before he started shaking his head. "It's nothing."

"It can't be _nothing_ if it made you cry," Seto voiced sternly. "I don't want you keeping secrets from me."

Joey covered his face with his hands. There was no way Seto was going to let him slide from this conversation. But if he did tell Seto what he wanted to do, how would he react? That wasn't something the blond couldn't peg.

And if Seto said no, Joey knew his heart would break.

"Did something on here upset you?" Seto inquired, picking up the laptop when Joey remained silent.

Joey watched him helplessly when Seto opened it. Since he'd never set up password protection, it gave the brunet easy access to everything. That…and he hadn't closed the webpage.

Seto stared at the picture of the small boy on the website. It almost brought a smile to his face. Then he noticed what type of site Joey had been on. It was an adoption agency. Joey had been looking at photo listings of children up for adoption. He wanted to adopt a child?

"Puppy, what—"

"I can explain," Joey interrupted, looking as if he were going to cry again. "It was before we got together. I…I had made the decision that if I couldn't be with you, then I didn't want to be with anyone. So I'd decided that…in the future…I'd want to adopt a child. I-I looked through an adoption agency on a whim and started going through the photo listings and…I came across _him_."

Seto looked back at the picture. "How long ago was that?"

"Six months ago."

The brunet felt a sharp pain in his chest. Joey had come across this little boy six months ago? And no one had adopted him yet?

Seto then started reading the boy's profile _very _carefully. After some analysis, he concluded that the boy was perfectly healthy, energetic, and seemed to have a knack for games. Who _wouldn't _want this little boy?

It clicked then. Joey had fallen in love with this little boy when he'd had nothing to look forward to with his life. His Puppy must have gone on this site whenever he'd been depressed…and every single time this boy had still been there.

"You want to adopt him, don't you?" Seto asked.

Joey couldn't tell what Seto was thinking. He was afraid to even guess. "Yes." The blond was surprised by his own answer.

"We…haven't talked about this before," Seto said absently. The brunet had to admit, he really loved the idea. He could…start his _own _family with Joey!

"I know we haven't discussed it. And I'd like to discuss with you, but Seto, it's always been my dream to raise my own family, particularly with you. I _want _a family with you," Joey said tearfully. "Please say something." He couldn't bear the silence anymore.

Seto turned his head to look at Joey, a tear escaping his eye as he ran down his face. "Yes," he said, fighting back his own tears.

"Huh?"

"I want a family with you, too," Seto explained, pulling Joey into his arms. "I want to have a _family _with you."

Joey threw his arms around Seto's neck, happy and relieved that his Dragon wanted this just as much as he did. "I'm so happy you want to start our own family."

"Me, too. I'll call the agency tomorrow."

The blond shot away from Seto like a bullet. "What?" he gasped. "You mean…"

"We'll adopt him. Maybe…he's been waiting for us."

"Oh, Seto," Joey sighed, hugging his Dragon tightly again. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." He pulled back slightly so that he could thank the brunet properly…tongue and all. "Thank you."

Seto sniffed, the tears finally giving way as they ran down his cheeks. "No, Puppy, thank you for voicing the idea. I hadn't thought that you'd want to…with me. I love you, Joey."

"I love you, too, Seto. And he's going to love _you _as well," said Joey, looking at the picture of the small boy lovingly. "I can't wait to bring you home, Jaden."

"We'll get you soon, Jaden," added Seto. "I promise."

* * *

**End Chapter**


	5. Thursday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Thursday**

"Puppy, it's—5:30 in the fucking morning," Seto grumbled. "Why are you up so early?"

"Sorry, Seto," Joey whispered, kissing the brunet on the forehead. "I'm just anxious."

Stretching, Seto decided that he might as well get up, too. At least that way he could _comfort_his Puppy rather than snapping at him. "No, I'm sorry. I know you're anxious. I am, too. We need to tell Mokuba and Serenity that we're planning on adopting…and I need to call the agency to set up an appointment to meet Jaden."

But Joey still looked fidgety. "Do you think we're rushing things? This is all happening so fast."

Seto sat up on the bed and raised his gaze to Joey. "It _does_seem like things are happening quickly, but I don't feel like we're rushing into anything we can't handle. What I _do_know, however, is that I _want_to spend the rest of my life with you. And I want to share the love that I have for you with a child of our own. It may seem like we're taking a giant leap…but is it really anything different than what we've done already?"

"Probably not. You've spent the majority of your life raising Mokuba. I've spent the majority of mine just surviving. And then we've helped Yugi save the world…numerous times. We've made friends…enemies…and we've ended up with greater responsibilities than any other regular teenager," replied Joey.

"Although it might seem unfair, you're exactly right. We just have a few more weeks before we graduate, we're already working on this business project which I actually hope to make successful within the next few years, and we are _going_to adopt that little boy," said Seto.

"Hopefully things will go well for us for a change." Joey sat back down on the bed. "It feels like we've switched roles. You're actually being the optimistic one."

Seto chuckled lightly and pulled Joey into his arms. "Since we're up so early, do you want to take a shower together?"

Joey smirked. "I don't know. Is your bathroom soundproof?"

"As a matter of fact, it is. And so is our room," Seto replied mischievously. "Now tell me, Puppy, do you still want to wait until Friday?"

The blond moaned when Seto started running his hands up and down Joey's chest. "Yes, I still want to wait until Friday." When he saw Seto immediately frown at his response, he smirked again. "But that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun in the shower."

And with that, the blond sauntered toward the bathroom, leaving Seto to rush after him.

* * *

Joey stood in the kitchen, hastily making breakfast. He wanted to get it done before Mokuba and Serenity came down. That way…he'd have nothing to distract himself when he told them he and Seto were going to adopt. The blond had even brought his laptop down to show them Jaden.

"Morning, Joey!" Serenity and Mokuba called as they entered the kitchen.

"Morning," Joey answered softly as he busied himself again. He was starting to tense up. Perhaps he should have stayed in the shower with Seto just a _little_bit longer. The brunet had magic hands when it came to relaxing him. And he really felt he needed it right now.

"Are you okay, Joey?" asked Serenity.

"Yeah, you seem kind of out of it," added Mokuba.

Joey sighed and dropped his shoulder, turning to face the two. "Seto and I…made a decision yesterday to…to do something. And I wanted to tell you this morning that…"

"That what?" Serenity wasn't used to seeing her brother so nervous.

"Seto and I want to adopt a child," Joey blurted. "A little…boy."

"That's great, Joey," said Serenity, smiling.

Joey felt his mood lift considerably. "Mokuba? What about you? Are you okay with this?"

Mokuba appeared thoughtful. "Have you guys already decided who you want to adopt?"

The blond nodded and went over to his laptop, which was on the kitchen table. He turned it toward them so they could see Jaden's profile. "He's…Jaden's been on here for about six months now. It seems like no one wants to adopt him…and I just…fell in love with this little guy. He's three, but closer to four now, he's energetic, healthy, loves to play games—"

"Does he have a brother or sister?" Mokuba interrupted, looking quite serious.

"No. Jaden doesn't have any siblings…he's all alone," replied Joey.

"Okay. Because if he did, you'd have to adopt them, too. Siblings shouldn't be separated," added Mokuba as he smiled at Joey.

"I agree," Joey said, smiling back at him. "So…you two are okay with this?"

Both Serenity and Mokuba nodded their heads vigorously.

"Thanks, you guys," said Joey, pulling the both of them into a hug.

"I guess you told them the news?" asked Seto when he stepped into the kitchen.

Joey nearly had a heart attack when he heard Seto speak from behind him. "Stop sneaking up on me! Did you call the agency?"

"Yes."

"And what did they say?"

"They said we can meet Jaden this Saturday."

Joey threw his arms around Seto's neck and hugged him tightly. "Oh, I can't wait!"

"Neither can I."

"Do we get to meet him, too?" inquired Mokuba.

"Not on Saturday," answered Seto. "_You_will be at a friend's and Serenity will be with Tea. We'll tell you all about it on Sunday."

"So…when do you guys actually get to take Jaden home?" asked Serenity.

"Well, there's paperwork to do and normally they have to send a social worker to inspect the home and such. The soonest we can expect to invite Jaden into our home might be in a few weeks," replied Seto.

"I really don't think I can wait that long," muttered Joey.

Seto heard him. "Puppy, I'm going to do all I can to rush things so that we can get him home as soon as possible. I promise you that."

* * *

"This day is just dragging on," Joey groaned as he and Seto walked to Econ.

"It just feels like it's dragging on because you're excited about Saturday," commented Seto.

"Well, aren't you?"

"Of course I am."

"Seto?" Joey said, stopping the brunet before they got into the classroom. "I don't want our friends to know yet. At least…not until we know we can adopt Jaden for sure."

"All right, Puppy. But make sure you tell Serenity that so she doesn't start blabbing to Tea."

Joey laughed. "I will."

"Joey! Joey!"

Said blond turned to see a disheveled Ryou running toward him. "Are you okay, Ryou?"

"Yes!" he gasped as if trying to catch his breath. "I've been trying to find you all morning! It's about the questionnaire I started having people fill out yesterday."

"Ryou! Wait for me! I can't lug all this stuff by myself!" barked Bakura, who was currently dragging one of those…large suitcases on wheels.

"Um…what's going on? Did people not want to fill out the questionnaire?" questioned Joey.

"No! It was quite the opposite! They wanted to fill it out! People are…_wild_about this Duel Academy thing!"

"How wild?" asked Seto. "How many questionnaires were filled out yesterday?"

"1,496. I had to set up in front of the copier place because the demand was so high. Bakura and I brought more questionnaires with us today to pass out at school. I even spoke with Mr. Skein this morning and he's given us our own classroom to work in. It's currently empty, but he said we can set up in there to work on our project."

Joey was astounded. He didn't know his ideas for Duel Academy would be such a big hit. And now they had their own classroom to work in? Just for their project?

"I'll go get the others and then we'll follow you to this…classroom," stated Joey. He burst into Mr. Skein's class, gathered his friends, and then they hurriedly rushed to the vacant classroom.

"They've already given us a large table and enough chairs for all of us. And some desks," Ryou explained when they ventured into the room. "I've put the already filled out questionnaires over in that corner. What did you want to do with them?"

"I can get started on making the questionnaires electronic files since I'm working on the web plan summary," offered Duke. "And believe me, the size of that pile does not intimidate me."

"After every hundred questionnaires, send me an electronic copy to my laptop," requested Seto. "I'll start putting things into spreadsheets."

When Seto and Duke went to the far side of the room to work on the questionnaires, Ryou said that he and Bakura were leaving to pass out questionnaires to all the classes at school. They also had a drop off box ready outside of the classroom in case no one was there when students tried dropping them off.

"Joey? Tristan and I are going to start bringing our materials to this room so that we can work on the uniforms here, okay?" said Tea.

"Sure," replied Joey. "And if you need anything, just let me know. Yugi? Yami? How's everything coming?"

"We're doing great, Joey! We've started coming up with a basic dueling curriculum and we're sort of using Grandpa's teachings as a basis."

"Sounds great. When you have everything done, give it to me so that I can make an electronic version of the curriculum," replied Joey.

"By the way, Joey, what _are_you doing, anyway? You haven't really said," asked Yugi curiously.

Everyone suddenly stopped what they were doing and looked at Joey.

"Hey, he's right? What have you been working on all this time?" added Duke.

Joey suddenly became timid. He had been working on many things for Duel Academy, but he hadn't even showed Seto anything yet! And now his friends wanted to know what he'd been working on?

The blond reached for his bag and pulled out his laptop. As he booted it up, he said, "I installed some designing software and I started drawing up virtual designs of the main building at Duel Academy and the dorms. And I've also…redesigned…Seto's Duel Disks."

"You redesigned my Duel Disks?" Seto wasn't sure how he should react to that statement. He spent a long time in creating his Duel Disks…and now his Puppy had changed it in…a matter of days? "What do you mean by that?"

"I…I can show you," Joey answered feebly as he opened the file that contained the new design. "These are the Academy Duel Disks. They're less…pronounced than the Battle City ones, and it only requires the top sections of the card platform to extend. The basic color is white, but then there are even three varieties; one for each dorm. You have the Slifer Red Duel Disk, which is outlined in red, the Ra Yellow Duel Disk, which is outlined in yellow, and the Obelisk Blue Duel Disk, which is outlined in blue."

The other's swarmed around Joey so that they could see the new design. Seto, however, seemed to be the most impressed.

"Puppy, these are magnificent. Send me these designs right away. I'll have construction take place on them at Kaiba Corp. right away."

"Really?" Joey gasped. "You're not angry that I changed this?"

"No. Why would I be angry? I love the fresh ideas you have," replied Seto.

"Have you done anything else, Joey?" Yugi inquired.

"Well…I am working on something, but I really would like to keep it to myself for awhile. I have a lot of kinks to work out," answered Joey.

When it seemed the others were appeased by his words, even Seto, he went back to his laptop. He wasn't ready to tell the others what else he was working on.

How could he tell them that he was creating a whole new wave of Duel Monsters Cards that knocked Pegasus' right out of the water? Joey wasn't normally one to brag, but he felt really good about what he'd created.

The only thing that bugged him, though, was how he'd gotten the ideas for so many in the first place. It was almost as if…he'd been told they really existed…by someone. But even if that were true…how was it that he knew what they looked like and what they were capable of?

Joey opened the folder titled Elemental Heroes and started scrolling through the designs he'd created. Creating Duel Academy was once thing, redesigning Seto's Duel Disks was another, but pulling Duel Monsters out of thin air and turning them into cards was another thing entirely.

And somewhere deep down, he knew he had to get these cards produced. But how was he going to do that? Perhaps he really did need to tell Seto about this after all.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	6. Friday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Friday**

Joey sat quietly in the classroom that had been given to them to use during Econ. He was currently engrossed in working on his Duel Monsters Cards. So much so, that he didn't hear Seto come up behind him until it was too late.

"What's that?" the brunet asked curiously, but as soon as he'd said that, Joey had closed the window.

"Nothing. Just…silly stuff," he replied shyly.

Seto took a seat next to him. "Why won't you show me? Ever since yesterday, you've been glued to your laptop more than I am to mine. What's got you so busy?"

"I…I've just been working on something that's…important to me," his Puppy answered vaguely.

"Tell me what it is or I'll just look for myself," said Seto sternly.

"Okay, fine," Joey relented. "I've been creating some new Duel Monsters Cards. Some of them are themed and I've constructed some sets into decks. That's all."

"That's all? What do you mean, that's all? Don't you realize what you've done?" exclaimed Seto.

Joey cringed. "What did I do?"

"It's been a _very _long time since any new cards have come out. And it sounds like you've created a lot. We might—if you want to, that is—be able to make a deal with Pegasus to produce them."

His Puppy looked back at his computer screen, blinking cutely before turning his eyes back to him. "You really think so?"

"I know so. Can I take a look?"

"Sure. Um…I'll show you the one I created for Yugi. He kind of inspired these ones. It's called a Vehicroid Deck. The monsters are all mine, as well as a few of the spells and traps. The effects are there and everything, too. You should be able to pick out what's mine and such," the blond replied, opening the folder titled Vehicroid.

And Seto began scrolling through the cards Joey had created. He was astounded.

The Vehicroid Deck consisted of:

Normal Monsters – Cycroid x 2

Effect Monsters – Ambulanceroid, Decoyroid, Drillroid, Expressroid x 2, Gyroid, Jetroid, Kiteroid, Patroid, Rescueroid, Stealthroid, Steamroid, Submarineroid, Truckroid, and UFOroid

Fusion Monsters – Ambulance Rescueroid, Pair Cycroid, Steam Gyroid, Super Vehicrois Jumbo Drill, Super Vehicroid – Stealth Union, and UFOroid Fighter

Spells – Burial from a Different Dimension, De-Fusion, Emergency Provisions, Limiter Removal, Mystical Space Typhoon, Pot of Greed, Polymerization, Power Bond, Shield Crush, Training Field, Training Wheels, Vehicroid Connection Zone, and Weapon Change

Traps – Cyber Repairer, Cyber Summon Blaster, Dark Computer Virus, Life Force, Magic Cylinder, Mirror Damage, No Entry!, Ring of Life, Supercharge, and Wonder Garage

"These are…unbelievable," Seto said breathlessly.

"These ones are really…toy-like and it reminds me of Yugi. I made one for you, too. The Cyber Dragon Deck," replied Joey.

"Show me."

And he did.

The Cyber Dragon Deck consisted of:

Normal Monsters – Cyber Soldier of Darkworld

Effect Monsters – Cyber Barrier Dragon, Cyber Dragon x 3, Cyber Kirin, Cyber Laser Dragon, Cyber Phoenix, Heavy Mech Support Platform, Kaiser Glider, Metallizing Parasite – Lunatite, and Proto-Cyber Dragon

Fusion Monsters – Chimeratech Overdragon, Cyber End Dragon x 2, and Cyber Twin Dragon

Spells – Battle Fusion, Card from a Different Dimension, Creature Swap, Cybernetic Fusion Support, De-Fusion x 2, Different Dimension Capsule, Future Fusion, Limiter Removal, Machine Duplication, Monster Reborn, Mystical Space Typhoon, Overload Fusion, Photon Generator Unit, Polymerization, Pot of Greed, Power Bond x 2, Ruthless Denial, Time Fusion, and Trap Booster

Traps – Attack Reflector Unit, Call of the Haunted, Damage Polarizer, Final Fusion, Lost Pride, Rare Metalmorph, Return Soul, and Trap Jammer

Seto couldn't help but smile. This was a powerful deck. He really, _really _wanted to get his hands on these cards. One, they'd been made especially for him by the love of his life.

And two…he could finally defeat Yami in a duel with these cards! His Blue-Eyes White Dragons and these Cyber Dragons would make him invincible!

The brunet started laughing victoriously…that is, until a certain Puppy's elbow came in contact with his stomach.

"I know what you're thinking, now stop it!" the blond hissed.

Seto cleared his throat and tried to compose himself. "We'll need to contact Pegasus right away…because I can't wait to hold the cards you've created in my hands. Ha—ow! Would you stop elbowing me?"

* * *

Both Seto and Joey entered the mansion quickly, slamming the door behind them as they laughed and went into each other's arms.

"Serenity and Mokuba are gone," Joey panted, kissing Seto eagerly.

"I know," Seto replied in the same manner. "I've been waiting for this moment for so long, Puppy. Shall we go upstairs?"

"Yes. Ack! What are you doing?" the blond shrieked when Seto immediately lifted him bridal style.

"I'm doing this right." Seto leaned down and kissed his Puppy on the lips, eliciting a soft moan from him.

Next, Joey found himself being carried quite delicately to their bedroom, where Seto set him on the ground. Then they just stood…staring at each other intensely.

Without a word, Seto slipped his arms around Joey's waist, pulling him gently against him, their hips precariously close together.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Seto sincerely.

Joey nodded and that was all Seto needed to continue.

* * *

_**Lemon**_

The blond gasped softly when he felt Seto's hands graze his backside, drawing him closer. As Seto lowered his head, he nuzzled the crook of his neck. Joey shivered. And when Seto's lips gradually traced his jaw line, reaching his very own lips, the brunet kissed him.

Joey welcomed Seto's searching tongue, allowing him access that gave Seto what he desired. The blond had opened himself to him, and let him ravage him to completion.

Seto found himself holding onto Joey so tightly and so securely, his knees gave out, and fell backward onto the soft comforter on the bed. Joey fell atop him, looking surprised that he was now above Seto.

Shifting his legs, the blond straddled him, his knees surrounding Seto's hips. Joey started threading his shaking fingers through Seto's brunet locks, kissing him just as deeply as he had.

A moan escaped Seto's lips when his Puppy rocked his hips against him, and he ground his hips back in return. But he couldn't take it anymore. _He _wanted to be in control…and pleasure his Puppy.

Becoming possessive, Seto rolled Joey onto his back and pinned him in place for a moment before leaning back just enough to remove his shirt. Tossing it to the floor, Seto started working on his pants; however, Joey decided to help him.

The blond slowly unzipped the front of Seto's pants, smirking when he discovered that Seto had decided not to wear anything beneath them.

"Expecting something, were you?" Joey teased.

"Shut up," replied the brunet as he tugged his pants down, leaning further back so that he could remove them completely—after he removed his shoes and socks first.

And before he knew it, Seto was back, doing away with the blond's shoe and socks, his jacket, and stripping him of his shirt.

"Unzip me," whispered Joey huskily, laying back submissively on the bed.

Seto hesitated, his hands trembling slightly as he lowered them to the front of Joey's pants. Putting a hand to the zipper, he dragged it down…and successfully removed his Puppy's pants—and boxers—from his body.

Joey inhaled sharply at the chill now raking his body, but that soon vanished when Seto's eyes, which seemed to smolder in the dim lighting, panned his body, making him harden with need.

Seto touched him then, flicking his smooth thumbs over the blond's already taut nipples, nearly causing Joey to choke on the very air he needed to breathe. But Seto wasn't through yet. In fact, he slid lower over Joey's writhing body, catching a nipple in his hot mouth while his fingers toyed with the other.

At the combined touch of mouth and finger, Joey cried out. The sucking and pulling sensation made him stop breathing. Every cell in his body seemed to scream in pleasure at the very pinch of Seto's teeth.

Feeling that he had driven his Puppy wild enough, Seto leaned back once more, breaking away from his love. Reaching over to his nightstand, he opened the drawer and pulled out a small bottle, dropping it onto the bed.

The brunet lowered his body onto Joey's again, kissing him sweetly as he pushed the blond's legs apart with his own. Seto then lowered his hand and stroked the inside of Joey's thighs, making his Puppy gasp with want.

"Are you sure, Joey?" Seto asked once more, his eyes clouded with uncertainty. "I-I've never done this before…and I don't want to hurt you."

"Seto, I want us to make love to each other," Joey answered soothingly, running his hands through Seto's hair again. "I've never done this either, but I do know that it's going to hurt the first time. Seto…I trust you…and I know you would never hurt me. Not intentionally, anyway." Joey wrapped his arms around Seto and drew him closer. "Please, make love to me."

Letting out a shaky breath, Seto reached for the small bottle of lubricant and lathered them thoroughly before sliding a single finger into Joey's tight entrance. His Puppy winced as the brunet moved in and out of him, but the blond was soon overcome with pleasure.

Seto added a second finger, stretching his Puppy even further while he started scissoring his fingers. By the time he added his third finger, the blond was becoming more vocal. He continued slipping his fingers in and out of Joey's slick entrance, stroking…and probing…and driving into him until the blond was squirming on the bed.

Joey let out a whine when the fingers suddenly disappeared. He opened his eyes—shocked because he hadn't noticed he'd closed them—and stared at Seto longingly. Seto was now kneeling between his parted legs. And when Seto pushed Joey's knees up to his chest, the blond grew confused.

"What are you—Seto!" Joey slammed his head back against the bed when Seto thrust into him with his tongue. He was begging…panting…moaning. The blond didn't even recognize his own voice. Seto's mouth just kept ravaging him, thrusting his vivacious tongue into him over and over again.

Seto felt Joey turn, but he held him still. When his Puppy desperately tried to push his head away, the brunet pushed away his hands and burrowed deeper into the blond. He continued to lick…and nip…and suck…until Joey's mind exploded with passion, his erection doing the same as he came all over his stomach, shrieking Seto's name aloud.

While the spasms consumed his body, Seto slid over him and coated his hardened member provocatively with lube. And soon, the blond felt Seto's stiffness pulsing at his center.

"You're sure?" Seto asked for the last time, his body trembling from keeping his emotions under control.

"Yes."

Seto rested his forehead against Joey's and kissed him. "I-I love you, Joey," he said, plunging into the blond, spearing him deeply.

Joey bit back a yelp of pain as tears stung his eyes. Seto noticed, beginning to feel extremely guilty for hurting his sweet, innocent lover. So he paused, waiting for his Puppy to respond before he did anything else.

It felt like he was being ripped in half, but eventually the blond's body adjusted to Seto—and he was too busy feeling the sudden pleasure to allow him to feel any pain at all. And he slightly bucked his hips, clamping down on him in the process, to urge Seto to continue.

Jolted into movement, Seto started driving his Puppy to another orgasm. He struck the blond's prostate with every thrust.

"S-Seto! U-Uh!" Joey cried, tears forming in his eyes from the pleasure.

Seto groaned, quickening his pace with a sharp snap of his hips. It was almost too much for him to handle. "J-Joey!"

His Puppy—his lover—tenderly wrapped his legs around his waist, urging…begging him to go deeper. Seto was truly touched by this simple act and it literally brought tears to his eyes. He truly hadn't realized how much he loved Joey until now—until they were made one.

When Joey came for the second time, Seto did, too. And when the blond felt the rush of his lover's essence spilling into him, his release was almost too much for him to bear.

_**End Lemon**_

* * *

Joey felt something wet hit his face, and he looked up to Seto…only to see that he was shaking uncontrollably…and he was crying.

The blond brought his hands up to his face, wiping his tears away. "Seto?"

The brunet sniffed as he lowered his head and kissed him again. "I love you so much," he gasped, kissing him again.

"I love you, too, Seto. But why are you crying?" Joey asked, his voice laced with concern.

Seto pulled out of him and moved to lie on his back, taking Joey with him. As the blond curled up against him, he waited for an answer.

"I just love you and…you complete me. Joey, I've never…_never_ felt this connected to anyone before. You're mine now and I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you," Seto replied, his grip tightening.

"You're not going to lose me, Seto. Now relax," said the blond, pushing Seto's sweaty bangs out of his face as he coaxed him into calming down. He never would have thought that Seto would become so…endearing after such an intimate experience.

And Seto did relax, if the soft sounds of snoring were any indication. Joey smiled gently at him, snuggling even closer to him. Seto could be so sweet…and he could be really innocent at times, too. Joey was starting to believe that there was a lot more to Seto than met the eye…and he couldn't wait to find out what all of those things were.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	7. Saturday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Saturday**

Joey anxiously wrung his hands while he waited for Seto to step out of the limo. This was it. They were at the orphanage. They were going to meet Jaden…and hopefully adopt him.

"Ready, Puppy?" Seto asked, placing his hand on the blond's lower back as he guided him forward.

"Y-Yes. I…I can't believe this is really happening," Joey replied.

"I know. So…are you ready to be a Mommy?" Seto chuckled heartily. He couldn't resist, and the pout he received in return was to die for. "Let's go."

They approached the orphanage quickly, and with a brisk knock on the door—which was answered almost immediately—Seto and Joey were ushered down a hallway and into a room that resembled an office. Soon, an older woman appeared and took a seat in front of them, ushering them to do the same.

"It is my understanding that you are interested in adopting…Jaden Yuki. Is that correct?" she asked, her voice sounding nasally.

Joey wasn't sure he liked this woman. She had an air of…acting all high and mighty.

"We are," Seto answered curtly. He was starting to get a weird vibe from this woman.

"We have yet to place Mr. Yuki in a home for very long. It seems no one wants him."

"Do you have any reason as to why that might be?" Seto inquired, his eyes narrowing at the woman.

Joey knew where this was going. Seto was entering interrogation mode, and he really didn't want to be here for this.

"Would it be all right if I met with Jaden while the two of you talk?"

The woman seemed surprised by this. "I…suppose. Just proceed down to the very end of the hall. It's the last door on the right. Someone will let you in."

Confused by what she meant, Joey stood up regardless, giving Seto a reassuring smile before he left the office.

Joey did as the woman had said and walked down the hall, but he slowed when he saw kids running around what seemed to be a large dining room. They were having lunch. But if it was lunchtime, why would Jaden be in his room?

Quickening his pace, Joey finally reached the end of the hall. And what seemed even more peculiar was that there was a…hall monitor—or guard—with a set of keys hanging from his belt loop.

"Excuse me," Joey started. "I was just wondering if I was in the right place. I'm looking for a small boy by the name Jaden Yuki. I was told he was down here, but it looks pretty abandoned this way."

And it did. It seemed most of the activity happened on the other side of the orphanage. This spot looked unkempt…and like it was hardly ever used.

"You're here for the boy?" the guard asked in surprise. When Joey nodded, the man started searching through his keys. He took one off the key ring and gave it to him. "Last door on the right. Lock it back up when you're done and give me the key." And then he left.

If Joey had been uneasy before, he didn't know what he was feeling right now. Why would they lock Jaden up by himself?

Proceeding toward the far end of the hall, Joey finally reached the door. Slipping the key into the lock, he turned it, twisting the doorknob. As the door opened, it made a loud screeching sound like something from a haunted mansion. Stepping inside, he shut the door behind him and placed the key in his pocket.

It terrified Joey by how much this room reminded him of his own when he lived back with his father. The only difference was that it had a mattress.

"Jaden?" Joey called, not seeing the boy. And as he stepped further into the room, he noticed a small figure lying on the floor huddled underneath a very thin blanket.

Joey sat down on the floor near the small form, slowly pulling the blanket away, revealing a tuft of light and dark brown hair. He was sleeping.

"Jaden?" Joey called again, this time stroking the small boy's face.

Soon, amber eyes met amber. Joey pulled his hand away and smiled at him, but Jaden just stared at him, looking confused.

"My name is Joey. You're Jaden, right?"

Jaden nodded, sitting up. The blanket pooled around his waist. That was when Joey noticed the poor condition his clothes were in. The other children had not looked this way.

"Why…are ya here?" Jaden asked softly, his tiny hands gripping the blanket.

"I'm here with my boyfriend. His name is Seto. We came here because we want to adopt you," Joey explained.

"But…no one wants me. That's why I'm here."

Joey wasn't sure if he meant 'here' as in the orphanage or 'here' as in this room.

"Why do you think no one wants you?" the blond asked as he seated himself more comfortably on the floor. The sudden movement made Jaden stiffen, causing Joey to come to a conclusion he was desperately wishing wasn't true. "You can tell me."

"Some…Sometimes I…hear things," Jaden started slowly. "And see things."

Joey's expression grew curious. "What kinds of things? Do these things say anything to you?"

"Um…W-Winged Kuriboh says that him and the others are Duel Spirits," Jaden explained unsurely.

Joey's expression became blank after what he'd just heard. Winged Kuriboh? This boy…Jaden _couldn't _know about Winged Kuriboh. Joey had only just created the Duel Monster the other day!

"Winged Kuriboh?" Joey echoed. "He's like a fuzzy brown puff ball—"

"—with big brown eyes—"

"—green hands and feet that have—"

"—yellow claws—"

"—and he has white—"

"—wings," finished Jaden, his eyes widening. "Have ya seen him, too?"

Joey wasn't sure how to answer him, so he just nodded. "A few days ago…I drew him on my computer."

"If ya saw him, does that mean ya saw the others?" Jaden asked, becoming livelier by the minute.

"Maybe," Joey replied thoughtfully. He had always wondered where the ideas for his Duel Monsters had come from, but he didn't know that what he had been creating Jaden had actually been seeing. Why was that?

A loud grumbling sound interrupted his thoughts…and it wasn't coming from Joey. The blond couldn't help but laugh. "Your stomach sounds like mine. Have you had lunch yet?"

Jaden started to look downcast again, his energy dying. "I don't get lunch."

"Why?" Joey's voice came out sharper than he'd intended, but Jaden didn't seem to notice.

"Cuz it's supposed to make be better."

"What do you mean?"

"Ms. Kuzo said I'm crazy cuz I see and hear things. So I only get breakfast and dinner."

"Is Ms. Kuzo in charge here?"

Jaden nodded, so it was probably the old woman.

"And what does Ms. Kuzo give you for breakfast?"

"Some bread."

"And dinner."

"More bread," said Jaden, yawning.

Joey fully took in Jaden's appearance then. He no longer looked like the energetic and feisty boy in the photo listing. He was pale and…lifeless…like all of his hopes and dreams had been squashed out of him. And Joey couldn't stand it.

He wanted to take Jaden home with him now, but he didn't know if they could. This whole Duel Spirit thing he'd definitely have to talk over with Yugi and Yami, but that could wait. For now, Joey was more concerned about Jaden's health.

He placed his hands around Jaden's shoulders, meaning to turn him a bit. But when the small boy cried out, he released him.

Jaden looked at Joey with tear-filled eyes, pain and fear revealing itself to him. And Joey felt his heart break.

"Jaden, can you take off your jacket please?" Joey's voice came out no more than a whisper, but Jaden obeyed without question.

The small boy stood, shaking slightly as he removed his tattered jacket, revealing bruised arms. As Joey examined him, he noticed that the bruises were shaped oddly like a hand. They'd been abusing him.

Holding back his own tears, Joey gently pulled Jaden into his arms and hugged him securely. "I'm going to get you out of here. You're going to come live with me and Seto."

"P-Promise?" Jaden managed to say.

"I promise," Joey replied, pulling away. "Put your jacket back on. I'm going to go find Seto and we're going to take you home with us."

As Jaden slipped on his jacket, he said, "How do I know you'll come back?"

Joey stood and reached for his wallet. Opening it, he pulled out a very old Duel Monsters card. "When I was around your age, I found this card. I've kept it with me ever since. It always felt like…I was being protected whenever I held it. I want to give it to you. It's my promise that I'll come back," he said as he handed Jaden the card.

Jaden took it, looking over it in amazement. "What's her name?"

"Her name is Yubel. And she'll protect you while I'm gone, okay?" Joey replied, pushing Jaden's hair out of his face.

"Okay. You'll come back?" Jaden's face tore at Joey's heart. He looked so helpless.

"I'll come back."

Joey went for the door and opened it, closing it behind him gently. He pressed his back against the door, tears threatening to fall. How could someone do that to such a precious little boy? He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of it. Just because Jaden was different, that horrible Ms. Kuzo saw it fit to punish him. Joey knew now that Jaden was telling the truth. He'd experienced too many weird things involving Duel Monsters to think otherwise, but he'd deal with that later. Right now, he had to find Seto.

Racing down the hallway as quickly as he could, Joey frantically searched for Seto…and ultimately bumped into him.

"Puppy, what's your hurry?" Seto asked in concern as he steadied Joey. His concern grew, however, when he noticed that Joey looked like he was about to cry. "What is it? What happened?"

"We're taking Jaden with us now," Joey said, his voice leaving no room for argument.

Seto was surprised by his Puppy's determination. "I don't know if we can. That…_bitch_ Kuzo says we have a waiting period."

"Screw the waiting period!" Joey snapped, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Joey, please calm down. Let's talk about this first. I take it you met Jaden?"

"Y-Yes. What did she tell you about him?"

"She said that no one wanted him because he was crazy. Then she started going on about how Jaden sees Duel Spirits. I almost didn't believe her until she mentioned one he'd seen that I'd only seen just yesterday."

So Joey's suspicions were correct. "Which one?"

"…Cyber Phoenix. She said that Jaden saw it outside his window. Normally I wouldn't believe something like this. I'd pass it off as an overactive imagination. You know that. But after everything we've gone through with Duel Monsters…I believe Jaden…even if that old bat thinks he's crazy."

Joey exhaled in relief, and the tears came with it. "We need to take Jaden with us, Seto. We need to," Joey pleaded.

"Puppy, I told you already. I don't know if we can," Seto replied distraughtly.

"But, Seto…" Joey took a deep breath, steeling himself for Seto's reaction to what he was about to tell him. "They don't feed him well. His clothes are ruined, his room is about as bad as mine was, and he…he has bruises on his arms. I am _not _leaving here without him!"

Seto narrowed his eyes, his anger flaring. Someone was going to pay. "Let's go get him. Just watch them try and stop me."

Joey took the brunet's hand and led him down to the end of the hall, opening the door as gently as he could.

"Try not to make any fast movements. It startles him," Joey stated softly.

When they entered the room, Seto felt a pang in his chest. All Jaden had was a mattress and a flimsy excuse of a blanket. But when he saw Jaden, his heart stilled.

Jaden sat on the floor next to the mattress. His knees had been brought up enough so that he could bury his face in them, while his hands gripped the card Joey had given him like a lifeline.

Joey knelt in front of him. "Jaden?"

The small head rose. "Ya came back." His voice sounded hoarse, like he'd been crying.

"I promised you I would. And I always keep my promises. We're taking you with us."

Jaden noticed Seto for the first time then. His eyes moved from Joey to Seto and then back to Joey again.

Seto, realizing what Jaden might be thinking, knelt beside him as well. "Hi, Jaden. My name is Seto. We're going to take you home with us now, okay?"

"Ya mean it?" Jaden asked quietly.

"Yes, we mean it," replied Joey, smiling. "Now come here."

He beckoned Jaden to come to him, and when he did without any hesitation, the blond picked him up in his arms and stood with him, rocking him gently back and forth, speaking to him softly in a means to reassure him.

When they were back out in the hall, Seto's stoic persona instantly appeared, and he led the way back to Ms. Kuzo's so-called office, Joey a few steps behind him with Jaden.

Opening the door—Seto resisted the urge to slam it shut behind them—he glared furiously at the old woman, who currently shrank back into her seat.

"We are taking Jaden with us _today_," he ground out, his voice sounding threatening.

"But you can't—"

"You have no authority to tell _me _what I can and cannot do."

"I'll call the police!"

"No, _I _will call the police. You'll be locked away for good after what you've done to Jaden."

Ms. Kuzo's eyes narrowed. "It was for his own good! Children like him need to have the disobedience and foolishness beat out of them! And who are _you _to come in here and judge me on the way I run things!"

Seto smirked inwardly. He'd been waiting for this moment. "I, Ms. Kuzo, am Seto Kaiba. And the one holding Jaden is my boyfriend, Joey Wheeler. Now we will be taking him with us, so I suggest you rush the paperwork or find yourself and this orphanage facing a lawsuit."

The old woman's jaw dropped. She hadn't known she was dealing with Seto Kaiba. Just the name sent chills down her spine. "F-Fine. We'll do the paperwork and you can take Jaden with you today," she stammered in response.

Nearly half an hour later, Seto and Joey had left the orphanage behind them with Jaden in tow, but not before the brunet had called the proper authorities. As they got into the limo, Joey settled Jaden in his lap with his arms wrapped around him protectively. He had fallen asleep.

When the limo started moving, Joey leaned into Seto, and when the brunet placed his arm around him, the blond finally felt like he could relax. That was, until he heard Jaden's stomach growl again.

"Can we stop somewhere and get him something to eat?" Joey asked suddenly. "He hasn't had a decent meal in ages."

"Yeah. I think we should stop off at the mall, anyway. We'll get him something to eat and get him some decent clothes and things," replied Seto.

After he gave the directions to the driver, he settled himself more comfortably next to Joey.

"What should we have him call us?" Joey questioned thoughtfully. "We're technically his parents now."

Seto smiled as he pondered his Puppy's question. "Are you sure you don't want to be called Mommy? I'm kidding. I suppose—he's still a bit young, too—he can call you…Daddy and me…Papa…or something."

"I like that. Although, as he gets older, I have a feeling those names will turn into Dad and Pops," the blond chuckled.

"If he's anything like you, we can count on it," Seto snickered.

"We're here, Mr. Kaiba," announced the driver.

Joey looked back down at Jaden. "Hey, it's time to wake up now," he said, gently waking Jaden. "We're going to get something to eat and then do a little shopping for you, okay?"

Jaden nodded silently in response.

As the three got out of the limo, Joey picked up Jaden again, carrying him in his arms as they headed for Domino Mall. Thankfully it didn't seem to be too crowded at the moment. And when they found a quiet little restaurant that didn't seem to be too busy, they were seated and given menus while Jaden busied himself with the crayons and small coloring book he'd been given.

Joey quickly scanned the kids menu, picking out what he thought Jaden's body might be able to handle for the time being. Since Jaden hadn't had a decent meal for a while, he didn't want to push it.

"Have you decided on what you want yet?" the waitress—a cheerful older woman by the name Dorothy—asked.

"Yes," started Joey. "This little guy is going to have the tender chicken nuggets with a side of veggies and some milk. I'll have the Club Sandwich with fries and some apple juice."

"And I'll have the Chicken Ranch Melt with a garden salad and plain iced tea," added Seto.

"All right. I'll give you your orders as quickly as I can," she replied, leaving, but not before he eyes panned up and down Jaden suspiciously.

About fifteen minutes later, they were served their meals, and Jaden tucked right into his meal quicker than Seto had ever seen Joey do.

Joey watched Jaden down the chicken nuggets in a matter of seconds. He did the same thing with his veggies, which consisted of celery, cucumbers, carrots—and even two small breadsticks—with ranch dressing. The blond hadn't even touched his food yet. He'd been too busy watching Jaden eat.

"Are you still hungry?" Joey asked.

Jaden looked at the blond unsurely, but nodded anyway. Joey then pulled Jaden into his lap, where he let the small boy snack on some of his fries and a few bites of his sandwich.

It amazed Joey how hungry Jaden was. So much so that he felt like he was going to cry again.

Seto seemed to notice this. "Jaden, do you want to try some of mine?"

Jaden was all too happy to dig into Seto's food, so he moved from Joey's lap to Seto's in mere seconds.

Joey mouthed a 'thank you' to the brunet before he moved away from the table and rushed into the bathroom. There, he went over to the sink, turned on the tap, and splashed his face with water. He couldn't help the thoughts he was having. It hurt knowing that Jaden had been treated so poorly. And he was so hungry.

Finally managing to get himself under control, he stepped out of the bathroom, only to be confronted by their waitress.

"I'm fairly close to calling child services," Dorothy said, hands on her hips. "How dare you keep that poor boy in such a condition!"

Joey's eyes widened. "No, you don't understand. We just adopted him today. After we found out how he'd been treated…we couldn't leave without him."

Dorothy seemed to mellow then. "Oh. Well I hope you dealt with the bastards who did this!"

"Don't worry. My boyfriend isn't someone who'd let something like that go unpunished," Joey stated, swelling with pride for Seto.

"I wish you luck. And take care of that darling little boy," she said.

"We will."

Leaving him, Joey went back to his seat where he saw Seto feeding Jaden some of his salad. He wasn't doing too well. Jaden had ranch dressing _all _over his face.

The blond sat down and grabbed a napkin, laughing to himself. "Come here. Let's clean you up some," he said, wiping off the salad dressing.

When that was done, Joey noticed that _something _had caught Jaden's attention. Following his line of vision, he realized that their waitress had come back caring something on a tray.

"We have something special for the little guy here," she said as she placed the item down in front of Jaden. "Enjoy your ice cream sundae."

Jaden's eyes lit up. "It's for me?"

"Yeah, go ahead," urged Joey. "Eat your ice cream." He looked toward the waitress and she just smiled at him before walking away. She was a truly wonderful woman.

Turning toward Jaden again, he found a spoon filled with ice cream in his face. "Have some, too," said Jaden.

Joey took the spoon and ate the ice cream. "Have some, too," repeated Joey, passing a spoonful to Seto.

The brunet ate the ice cream given him and gave the spoon back to Jaden. "Thank you, Jaden."

The boy nodded and started eating his ice cream, but them he stopped and looked between the two of them. "What do I call ya? Are ya my new parents now?"

"Yes, we're your new parents now. You can call me Daddy and you can call him Papa," answered Joey.

"Do ya have any other kids?"

"Mn…not exactly," started Seto. "Um, Daddy has a little sister named Serenity; she's twelve. And I have a little brother named Mokuba; he's ten. But they both like to play…especially games. We all do. Even…our friends."

"I like games. They're fun," said Jaden happily. It was nice seeing him smile.

"After you finish your ice cream, we're going to do some shopping," Joey added. "We'll get you some new clothes and toys today. And sometime within the next couple days, we'll get you some stuff for your own room."

"I get toys?" Jaden exclaimed, his expression beaming.

"Yes, you get toys," reiterated Seto. "And if you're anything like my brother, your room will soon be swarming with them."

Jaden quickly finished his ice cream and soon the three were off browsing the mall for anything that Jaden might want and need. Making numerous purchases—and in the meantime, Jaden had fallen asleep again—they finally ventured home.

As the limo pulled up to the mansion, Jaden chose that time to wake up. And when he left the limo with his new parents, his eyes widened.

"Ya live here?" he cried. "It's big!"

"It is a bit big, isn't it," replied Joey. He'd always thought it was on the big side, but seeing things from Jaden's perspective, it was probably enormous. "Let's say we get you inside, take a bath and get you into some pajamas. Then we'll go to bed, okay?"

"Okay," replied Jaden as they ventured into the mansion. "Where's your brother and sister?"

"They are spending the night at a friend's," answered Seto. "They like to spend time with their friends on weekends, so they sleep over sometimes."

"Hey, Seto? I'm going to get him ready for a bath. Do you think you could find me that bubble bath I got? The lavender one?"

"Sure."

Joey set Jaden down on the floor as he rummaged through the bags and took out a pair of pajamas.

"Found it," announced Seto, tossing the bottle to Joey.

"Are we ready for bath time?" When Jaden nodded, Joey picked him back up and took him upstairs for his bath.

Seto smiled as he watched them go. He went back to the bags and started searching through them, and when he found what he was looking for, he smiled again.

Briskly making his way up the stairs, he entered their bedroom and placed the two stuffed Duel Monsters on the bed. One was a Red-Eyes Black Dragon, the other, Blue-Eyes White Dragon. He'd bought them not long after Jaden had fallen asleep; he wanted them to be a surprise.

He left the room and hurried back downstairs so that he could bring the rest of the bags into their room. Jaden would be sleeping with them tonight…and probably the next few nights until Joey was satisfied that Jaden was healthy.

When he returned, Jaden—dressed in his Kuriboh pajamas—had discovered the plushies and was happily playing with them on the bed.

"Thank you for riling him up," Joey stated sarcastically. "There was a reason for that lavender bubble bath, you know."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't resist."

"Someone's taking parenthood especially well," Joey laughed, hugging the brunet. Kissing him on the cheek, he pulled away and went into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, Joey was back and dressed in his own pajamas.

"Go change and we'll go to bed. It's getting late," said Joey as he pulled down the blankets.

Seto went into the bathroom to change while Joey settled Jaden down in the middle of the bed. The small boy was currently hugging his two new plushies. When Joey crawled into bed next to him, Seto had returned and got into bed on Jaden's other side.

Turning off the light, Joey kissed Jaden on the forehead and stroked his face until the small boy had fallen asleep. "I love you, Jaden," he whispered, wrapping his arms around him.

Seto pulled the blankets over them, kissing both Jaden and Joey goodnight before wrapping his own arms around them just as protectively as his Puppy had done with Jaden.

"Goodnight, Joey…Jaden. I love you both…very much," Seto murmured before following Jaden's and Joey's example by falling asleep.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	8. 2nd Sunday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 8 – Sunday**

"Daddy? Can Aoi and Akai have some breakfast, too?"

Joey turned around, a plate full of Jaden's breakfast in hand, only to see the small boy holding the two dragon plushies Seto had given him yesterday.

"Is that what you named them? Aoi and Akai?"

Jaden nodded. "So can they have breakfast?"

The blond placed the plate on the table and sighed. He might as well play along. "Sure. Can they share a slice of toast?"

"Okay. But Aoi wants honey on it and Akai wants jelly," confirmed Jaden.

"Okay. Now sit down and eat your breakfast," replied Joey, smiling.

He went back to the counter and grabbed a slice of bread. Cutting it in half, he smeared a little bit of honey on one half and jelly on the other. When he finished, he placed both halves on the table in front of their respective dragon plushies.

"There we go. Now eat up," said Joey, turning back around to grab his own plate. But when he glanced back over at the table, he nearly dropped his breakfast.

There was a Blue-Eyes White Dragon…and a Red-Eyes Black Dragon…in the kitchen…EATING TOAST!

The life size dragons looked up at him…and bared their teeth…WAIT! Was that supposed to be them smiling?

"Aoi and Akai say thank you," Jaden chirped as he wolfed down his own breakfast. "And Aoi says that Papa's gonna need his coffee really bad today? What's coffee?"

Joey let out a weird sound after the dragons finished their toast and disappeared. There weren't even any crumbs left on the table.

"C-Coffee is…s-something that gives Papa extra energy," Joey explained…finally. He needed to sit down…or faint…or something! There had been a Blue-Eyes White Dragon and a Red-Eyes Black Dragon eating toast in the kitchen! And Jaden was acting as if this were normal!

"Joey, we need—are you all right? You look a bit pale," announced Seto as he entered the kitchen, cell phone in hand.

"I'm…fine." Joey swallowed hard. "You…should have some coffee. Aoi says you're going to need it."

"Who's Aoi?" Seto asked, his voice laced with confusion.

"Your Blue-Eyes…apparently," answered the blond. He set down his breakfast, not sure if he even wanted it anymore. He _really _needed to talk to Yugi.

"I…got a call from Mokuba," Seto continued unsurely. "He says that he and Serenity are at the Game Shop, so we need to pick them up there."

Joey seemed to snap out of his daze. "Okay. Um…have you found a pediatrician yet?"

Seto's expression became blank. "I'm working on it."

"Well, work on it faster. I want Jaden to have a check-up as soon as possible," said Joey, switching back to parent-mode. Telling Seto about seeing the dragons in the kitchen could wait. Right now…a pediatrician was more important; at least it was something tangible.

The brunet groaned. "I really _do _need coffee," he mumbled as he went over to the coffee pot.

"When are we going to pick them up?"

"Soon. I have to find a pediatrician, remember?" Seto quipped. But then he found himself with a mug of black coffee in hands outside the kitchen. It had all happened so quickly.

"Find…a…pediatrician," Joey warned from within.

Gulping slightly, Seto backed away from the door. He never knew Joey could be so scary. Apparently his maternal—paternal, whatever—instincts were kicking in. So…finding a pediatrician was probably a good way to stay on Joey's good side.

* * *

Joey soon discovered, as they drove to the Game Shop, that Jaden and Duel Spirits did not mix very well. Furthermore, the blond was starting to see the things Jaden did so much—and so many different ones—that he'd almost found it to be quite…natural.

It was hard to explain, but he didn't feel uncomfortable around the Duel Spirits. Sure, he'd gotten the scare of his life that morning, but it wasn't like they were doing them any harm. They just came and went as they pleased and that was the end of it. Well…unless they were being a bit too mischievous, but that was something else entirely.

What Joey _was _worried about…was how he could suddenly see these Duel Spirits. He hadn't before. So why could he now? Was it Jaden?

"Are we gonna see Uncle Mokie and Auntie Ren now?" Jaden asked, giving an exasperated sigh as he flopped back into his seat in the limo. "I wanna play a game."

"We'll be there soon. And then you get to meet Uncle Yugi, Uncle Yami, and Grandpa," replied Joey. Jaden was starting to act more like a whiney kid now. And the blond had to admit, he was warming up to it.

"How much longer?" he whined.

"We're here, Mr. Kaiba," announced the driver.

Seto didn't respond. He was glaring at his cell phone.

"Mr. Kaiba? We're here," the driver said again.

"Seto, we're here," Joey said loudly…in the brunet's ear.

He practically jumped out of his seat.

"Y-You made Papa jump!" Jaden giggled. "Do it again! Do it again!"

Seto gave Jaden a mock frown. "That's not funny. But you know what is?"

"What?" Jaden continued to giggle.

"This!" cried Seto as he started tickling the small boy.

Jaden laughed his little heart out, making Seto and Joey laugh as well. Childish laughter was just so addicting.

"Okay, that's enough," said Joey. "We need to go to the Game Shop now."

"Games?" Jaden shouted, springing up.

"Yes, games. Now come on," replied Seto cheerfully as he stepped out of the limo.

Joey followed with Jaden in tow. Taking the small boy's hand, the three of them walked into the Game Shop, and at the familiar sound of the _ping_, they were greeted by none other than Solomon.

"Well, hello!" the old man greeted. "I didn't expect to see you two here today!"

"Three!"

Solomon's eyes widened in surprise.

"There's three of us!" Jaden said proudly.

"And who might you be?" Solomon asked.

"I'm Jaden! And this is Daddy and that's Papa!"

The old man turned his gaze to Seto and Joey, his eyes questioning.

"We'll…explain in a bit," started Joey. "Um…where are Mokuba and Serenity?"

"Um, they're in the living room with Yugi and Yami," answered Solomon, trying to get over his shock at seeing Jaden.

"Thank you," replied Joey, leading Jaden toward the living room. He'd been here enough times to know where it was. Seto followed him from behind.

Jaden seemed nervous. Joey could tell that just by how he would stick his thumb in his mouth. But also—as he was learning today—Yubel would appear.

And there seemed to be some sort of mutual understanding between her and Joey. They just looked at each other and knew that they both needed to protect Jaden. The blond really felt like she could protect him, and perhaps she really could.

"Hi Joey—who's that?" Yugi had interrupted his own greeting once he noticed Jaden was standing there.

Jaden squeezed Joey's hand and looked up at him. The blond gave him a reassuring smile. "Yugi, I'd like you to meet Jaden. He's Seto's and my adopted son."

It was entertaining to see Yugi's eyes go from big to enormous. "S-Son?" he stammered.

"Who's got a son?" inquired Yami as he entered the room with Mokuba and Serenity.

"J-Joey and Kaiba!" Yugi exclaimed, pointing at them while waving his arm wildly.

Mokuba and Serenity nearly ran Yami over as they rushed over to them.

Joey was almost starting to feel smothered and Jaden didn't like this attention all at once. The blond even knew that Yubel could sense their uneasiness, because she had reappeared again…but it seemed only he and Jaden could see her.

And when Mokuba had gotten a little too close to Jaden, Yubel made to charge him.

"No!" Joey cried, moving in front of Mokuba. "It's okay. He's family. So is she. The others are our friends."

Yubel stopped and stared at him…then she slowly disappeared.

Joey let out a shaky breath. He didn't really know what Yubel would have done, but the look she'd had in her eyes showed just how determined she was in guarding Jaden.

Suddenly, a hand rested on Joey's shoulder, making the blond jump slightly. "Puppy?" Seto whispered worriedly. "What are you doing?"

Joey opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"She's gone now," said Jaden softly. "Yubel's gone."

"I know, Jaden," replied Joey, finding his voice. "I know."

"What…are you two talking about?" Seto questioned almost immediately.

"Yeah, Joey. What's going on?" added Yugi.

It was now or never. "Yesterday…Seto and I adopted Jaden, but I'd rather not discuss the details, and we discovered that…he can see and hear…Duel Spirits. And ever since we first took him home…I've been seeing them, too. Just now…Yubel tried to go after Mokuba. She thought he was threatening Jaden. She's a Duel Spirit that kind of…watches over him."

"Duel Spirits?" echoed Yami, staring at Jaden curiously. "I should be able to see them, too. But why can't I?"

"I was kind of hoping you guys would be able to help with this whole Duel Spirit thing," continued Joey.

"Hm...I'll have to look into the matter. But I promise, Joey, that I'll help you figure this out as soon as I can," replied Yami.

"So let me get this straight," started Seto, "you've been seeing them, too? Like Jaden has?"

Joey nodded, not sure how Seto was going to respond.

"Do you think…these Duel Spirits have anything to do with the new cards you've created?" Seto asked thoughtfully. "It would explain why you might be seeing them now. Maybe Jaden makes them…visible to you."

"You're taking this incredibly well," Joey stated quietly.

"Did you think I'd react otherwise?" When the blond hesitated before nodding again, Seto pulled him into his arms. "I'm not going to be mad or anything. I want to understand what's going on just as much as you do."

A loud sigh interrupted everyone's thoughts. Jaden was getting bored.

"Oh! Jaden, I'm sorry," apologized Joey as he moved away from Seto. He took Jaden's hand and led him toward the others. "You've already met Grandpa. This is Uncle Yugi…Uncle Yami…Uncle Mokie…and Auntie Ren."

"Hi!" Jaden beamed. "Can we play a game now?"

"Sure. What do you wanna play?" asked Mokuba excitedly. He was warming up to the idea of being an uncle.

"I wanna play checkers with Uncle Yami," Jaden declared, pointing at the former pharaoh.

Yami chuckled. "Are you sure you want to face me? I hardly ever lose."

"I _never _lose," asserted Jaden.

Seto couldn't help the smirk that made its way onto his face. This he had to see.

"Oh, no you don't. You still need to find a pediatrician," commanded Joey.

"Can I just—"

"Pediatrician…now." When Seto didn't budge, Joey went on the offensive. "I hear it's pretty lonely on the couch at night."

Seto pulled out his cell phone and started dialing.

About ten minutes later, Seto wandered over to where Jaden and Yami were playing checkers. "Who's winning?"

"Who's our pediatrician?" retaliated Joey.

"We…don't have one yet. But I got Kuzo's license revoked and her orphanage shut down. The children have been sent to other and more prestigious ones."

"That's great, but we still need a pediatrician. Do you think it gets cold out on that couch at night?"

Seto waltzed back over to the other side of the room.

Another ten minutes later, the brunet had returned. "You two are _still _playing?"

"Are you _still _searching for a pediatrician?" asked Joey.

Seto pursed his lips. "Yes…but I somehow managed to get you maternity leave at school."

_That _got the blond's attention. "How on earth did you pull that off? And what does that even mean?"

"It means you can take Jaden with us to school, but instead of going to class, you will go to the classroom we're using for our business project. I'll pick up your schoolwork and you'll do it there. I can turn it in for you and that's basically it," he explained.

"Okay," replied Joey slowly. "You want one pillow or two?"

Seto marched back to the other side of the room.

About _another _ten minutes later—

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE IN THE BAHAMAS?" Seto roared through his cell phone.

There was a moment's pause. Everyone looked at the fuming brunet.

"Oh, so you're going _to_ the Bahamas? Okay. When? A week?" Seto listened for a few minutes before he suddenly perked up. "Great! We'll see you then!" Seto strode up to Joey proudly, saying, "I've set up an appointment with a pediatrician. He can see Jaden this Tuesday after school."

Joey smiled at him. "See? I knew you could do it. You just needed the right motivation."

"WHAT?" Yami shrieked. "NO! I…LOST?"

Seto and Joey snapped their attention back to Jaden and Yami. It was true. Yami no longer had any pieces on the checkerboard.

"That was fun! Wanna play again?" Jaden asked innocently, bouncing in his seat.

"You know what, Jaden? I don't think Uncle Yami can handle losing another game. Maybe next time," said Yugi as he tried to stifle his giggles.

"I lost," Yami said again. "I lost…to a _three_-year-old!"

If he could have, Seto would have challenged Yami to a duel while he was in this dazed state, but seeing that the so-called King of Games had taken a colossal blow to his ego, he decided to be…nice for a change. It would have been a bit _too _cruel to take advantage of Yami in such a state.

"Jaden, I think it's time we go home now," announced Joey, trying desperately to hold back his laughter. He couldn't help it! It looked like Yami was going to have some sort of panic attack or something.

"Yeah, we'll see you tomorrow," added Seto. He was smirking something awful at this point.

"But I still wanna play," whined Jaden.

"You can play at home," said Joey. "I'm sure Mokuba has some video games you two can play together. But nothing _violent_," he warned.

"I'm sure I have some racing games we can play," offered Mokuba. "Do you wanna play some of those?"

"Okay," replied Jaden happily.

"I wanna play, too," Serenity piped up.

"We'll all play," said Seto.

"Thanks, Yugi, Yami, Grandpa. We'll see you two tomorrow at school, okay?"

"Bye everyone!" Yugi chirped as he waved goodbye. He turned back around after they left. "Yami? Are you okay? It _was _just checkers, you know."

"I…lost, Yugi. I lost."

"Shh, it's okay, Yami. No, Yami! Don't _cry_!"

* * *

**End Chapter**


	9. 2nd Monday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 9 – Monday**

"I guess I'll see you two fourth period," said Seto after he, Joey and Jaden had entered the classroom being used for their business project.

Joey sat Jaden down at a desk and handed him a coloring book with crayons. "Do you have to leave now? Class doesn't start for another twenty minutes." They'd gotten to school earlier today because they didn't want to be swarmed by students if they saw Jaden.

"I wanted to find the others and…let them know about Jaden. That is, if Yugi hasn't blabbed to them already," explained Seto. "Plus, I have some _rules _I think they should follow since they'll most likely all be here during fourth."

"Okay," Joey relented. "Jaden? Papa has to go now."

Jaden looked up from his coloring book. Sliding off of his seat, he rushed over to Seto. "Why?" he implored.

Seto knelt in front of him and gave the small boy a hug. "We're at school, so I need to go to class."

"But Daddy's not."

"Daddy needs to look after you, but he still has stuff for school he needs to do. I have to go to class so that Daddy can do his schoolwork."

Jaden jutted his lip out. "Are ya gonna come back?"

"Of course I'm coming back. You'll see me in a few hours. Then we get to spend the rest of the morning and lunchtime together, okay?"

Jaden nodded but he still didn't look too happy about his Papa leaving.

"I'll tell you what," started Seto. "How about you draw me a picture while I'm gone, and when I come back, we'll draw one together. Maybe we can even play a game, too."

Jumping up and down excitedly, Jaden hugged Seto again and scampered off to work on his drawing.

"He's going to be entertained for a while," said Joey. "Do I get a goodbye hug, too?"

Seto chuckled. "Of course you do, Puppy," he replied, hugging the blond. "What are you going to do while he's occupied?"

"I want to finish up the cards I'm working on. If I can get that done today, I'll send you the files and then you can start working on a business deal with Pegasus."

"Sounds like a plan," said the brunet, giving Joey a quick kiss. "I'll see you two later."

"Bye, Papa!" Jaden shouted, waving exuberantly.

Seto waved back and left the classroom feeling strangely amiable by such a simple action. In other words…he loved it.

* * *

"Daddy?" Joey raised his head from his laptop, only to see Jaden pointing at something on the far side of the room. "What's that?"

The blond stood up slowly and stared at the yellow, dancing figure in the corner of the room. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that it was another Duel Spirit. An Ojama Yellow, to be exact.

"That's Ojama Yellow," answered Joey, raising an eyebrow as the Duel Spirit started dancing some more.

"What's he doing?"

"Dancing."

Jaden laughed. "It looks funny."

"It does."

And then Ojama Yellow was gone. Well, that had been random. However, Ojama Yellow had been the first Duel Spirit he'd seen at school.

Suddenly, the bell sounded and Joey looked at the clock.

"Papa's going to be here soon. And he's bringing friends. Did you finish your drawing?"

"Yep!"

"What did you draw for him?"

"Aoi eating Uncle Yami."

Joey burst out laughing at that point. He couldn't wait to see the look on Seto's face when he saw that!

* * *

"Why won't you let us in?" groaned Duke. Him and the others had been stopped from entering their substitute Econ classroom by Seto.

"Had I been able to find you all earlier, this need not have happened. But you're out here because I need to tell all of you something and I'd rather do it at the same time," snapped the brunet in response.

"Well, could ya hurry it up? Marik…took something," Malik stated, trying to keep his _stoned _lover from making an idiot of himself. Why Marik had believed the guy who told him that stuff was powdered sugar, he'd never know.

"We're still waiting on Yugi and Yami," said Tristan. "Where the—there they are! Where have you guys been?"

"Woah! What happened to him?" cackled Bakura when he noticed Yami's red, puffy eyes and somber expression.

Seto pinched the bridge of his nose. He just _knew _a headache was coming. "Will all of you cut it out!" he hissed.

Ah, silence. It was so tranquil.

"Now that all of you buffoons are here," began Seto, "there is something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" asked Tea.

"I'm getting to that," said Seto, losing his patience. Why was telling them this so hard? "Saturday…Joey and I…we…we adopted a three-year-old boy."

At this, Yami burst into tears again. Yugi tried to console him, but to no avail.

The others didn't know what—or how—to respond to this new information. And Yami's sobs weren't helping any.

"Why…did you guys suddenly adopt someone?" Tea asked.

Seto sighed, feeling uncomfortable speaking to _them_ about…his and Joey's relationship. "We…wanted to start a family of our own. Joey came across a photolisting on an adoption agency and I made the appointment. I actually expected the adoption to go through around our graduation, perhaps even during the summer. But we took him with us Saturday. We had to. They…weren't treating him well there."

"So…what's this little guy's name?" Duke inquired thoughtfully.

"His name is Jaden. Now there's something else, so _don't _freak out or anything," he growled. "Jaden can see…Duel Spirits, and since he's been with us, Joey can see them, too."

Bakura was suddenly intrigued. "He can see them? Blondie, too?"

Seto nodded, uncertain by the former thief's sudden interest.

"No one else has seen them?" asked Bakura.

"No. Not even Yugi and Yami saw anything when we stopped by the Game Shop yesterday," answered Seto.

"Wait! Is _that _why he's crying?" Bakura exclaimed. "Because he can't see the Duel Spirits?"

"No. It's because he lost to Jaden at checkers," Seto blurted.

Bakura erupted in laughter. "Y-You lost to a th-three-year old? H-How pathetic!"

Yugi glared at him. "It's not funny! Well…maybe it is, but that really hurt Yami's feelings! Although, I don't really know why…Oh, Yami! Would you pull yourself together? This is embarrassing! You lost! So what? Play something else with him…or just keep trying until you win! It's no big deal!"

Yami suddenly stopped crying, a look of determination on his face. "You're right, Yugi! I will challenge him to a duel!"

Seto rolled his eyes. "Jaden can't duel. He doesn't know how. And besides, he doesn't even have a deck."

The former pharaoh seemed to deflate, his hair sagging. He looked downcast again.

This was going to be a _long _day.

"Now, I have some rules since Jaden's here. No cussing, no swearing, no _pointy _objects, no roughhousing, no—"

"Geez, just ban me from the room, why don't you?" quipped Bakura.

Seto narrowed his eyes at him. "And make _no _sudden movements toward him or get too loud. Otherwise I'll kick you out myself. _Literally_."

After they all showed that they understood, Seto opened the door and led the way into the classroom. The others followed him quietly.

"Papa! You're back!" exclaimed Jaden as he raced over to the brunet with his drawing in hand.

Seto intercepted him and picked the boy up.

"I drew ya a picture. See?"

The brunet smiled and took the picture. His grin turned impish. "And what's this?"

"It's Aoi eating Uncle Yami!"

Yugi cleared his throat while he tried not to start laughing. "And who's Aoi?"

"It's Papa's Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Jaden explained as Seto set him back down. Taking the picture, he showed the group his artwork. "See?"

"I _really _like this kid," Bakura said gleefully.

Jaden looked back at Joey. "Who are the weird people? Their hair is funny, too."

The blond stifled his own laughter as he got up to make introductions. "These are Uncle Duke, Uncle Tristan, Aunt Tea, Uncle Malik, Uncle Marik, Uncle Ryou, and…Uncle Kura."

"It's _Ba_kura. Not _Kura_," the former thief grumbled as he crossed his arms.

"Daddy? Can I play with Uncle Kura? He's funny," pleaded Jaden.

Joey looked at Bakura—who seemed to be confused by Jaden's plea—and nodded. "Sure. You can play with Uncle Kura. Did you want to play a game?"

"Yeah! Come on, Uncle Kura! Play with me!" Jaden whined as he grabbed Bakura's hand, tugging him away from Ryou, who looked on amusedly.

"But…I don't know what to do with a kid!" Bakura protested, trying to pry his hand from Jaden's grasp. Why did kids have to have such a strong grip? "Ryou!"

"We're gonna play a game," Jaden repeated. "Let's play Tic-Tac-Toe! I bet I can beat you!"

The challenge had been made.

"You're on!" declared Bakura, and the two of them sat down at the table and started playing Tic-Tac-Toe.

"Those two are weird," said Marik, stumbling across the room. Malik was in hot pursuit so that he could prevent his lover from falling over.

"What? That's impossible! Let's play again!" Bakura ordered.

Jaden seemed unfazed by the former thief's tone and continued to play.

"I wanna go first this time!" snapped Bakura. He was starting to act more and more like a two-year-old.

So Jaden played him again. And won again.

"How do you keep on beating me?" roared Bakura as he pulled on his hair.

"I don't know. I just keep doing the same thing every time," stated Jaden. "This is boring. You're no fun anymore."

"Why you little—"

"Bakura," Ryou warned.

The former thief crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. "Tic-Tac-Toe is stupid."

Yami suddenly jumped in front of Bakura, laughing maniacally. "You lost to a three-year-old! At Tic-Tact-Toe!"

"Well at least I didn't cry like a little baby," retorted Bakura.

Yami gasped. "You take that back!"

"No!"

And thus the fighting began. Bakura had Yami pinned to the floor and was currently yanking on the former pharaoh's hair.

"That's enough!" snapped Joey, and Bakura and Yami soon found themselves torn away from each other. But…no one—that the others could see—had touched them.

The blond looked at Yubel and nodded. She let the two of them go and disappeared again.

"If you two insist on doing this, then take it outside," Joey ground out. They'd been so reckless! What if they'd hurt Jaden while they'd been fighting? "Do I make myself clear?"

It was actually quite a bit scary to see Joey so dead serious. They were used to the carefree and happy-go-lucky side of him. This…was something different entirely.

"Sorry," Yami and Bakura mumbled as they got to their feet. They were still a bit confused as to how they'd been ripped apart in the first place.

"Good. Now—" Joey stopped when something caught his eye. Ojama Yellow was back! And he was—

"Why are you staring at me?" Marik murmured, facing Joey head on.

"N-No reason," Joey stammered in response, his eyes glued to Marik's shoulder.

Marik froze and glanced toward his left shoulder without moving a muscle. "What is it? What are you staring at?"

"It's Ojama Yellow!" Jaden cried, pointing at Marik's shoulder.

Bakura's eyes widened. "I…see him, too."

"What?" Marik gasped. "What's he doing?"

Malik slapped a hand to his face. This couldn't end well. Marik was still _very _stoned.

"He's dancing!" Jaden said, bouncing up and down.

Joey covered his mouth with his hand, his expression becoming appalled when Ojama Yellow's dances became a little more…inappropriate.

"Seto, go play with Jaden," said Joey.

"But—"

"Now!" Joey couldn't have Jaden see _this_!

"Oh, my Ra!" exclaimed Bakura, staring at Marik with an aghast expression on his face. "What is he _doing_?"

Marik started to whimper. "What's he doing?" When he received no answer, he asked again. "What's he _doing_?" The whole time, Marik _still _didn't move a muscle.

"I kind of wish you guys could see this," Joey muttered absently. But then his face gave a horrified expression. "I _really _didn't need to see that!" he exclaimed, averting his eyes.

"He just thrust his tongue in your ear!" Bakura shrieked, frantically pointing at Marik's shoulder.

"Get if off! _Get it off! _GET IT OFF!" Marik shouted as he ran around the room. And soon, he was out the door and screaming down the hallway.

"Marik, come back!" Malik cried after him as he raced out the door.

The rest of them just watched, their expressions blank.

"I will never be able to look at that card the same way _ever _again," Bakura muttered, pressing his palms into his eyes. Thank goodness Marik had run off before Ojama Yellow had done _more_.

"At least it was just _one _Ojama," Joey placated.

"Oh, Ra! Don't go putting images in my head!" yelled Bakura. He looked about ready to bash his brains in.

"Who wants to play a game with me?" Jaden asked suddenly.

"You know what? I think I could go for a game," said Tristan.

"Me, too," added Yugi nonchalantly.

"Let's all play a game," stated Seto.

Leave it to Jaden to change the mood. Although right now, they'd give anything to wash away the last few minutes. It had just been a bit _too_ weird. Even for them.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	10. 2nd Tuesday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Tuesday**

"Puppy? I'm not going to be able to come with you to Jaden's doctor's appointment after school," Seto started awkwardly.

Joey spun on his heel and stared at him. "Why not?"

The brunet gave a heavy sigh. "I happened to send some sample cards to Pegasus yesterday and he immediately responded to me, saying that he wanted to make a deal on your new cards. He hopes to start production of them _this _week. I have a video conference with him this afternoon."

"Okay," the blond replied resignedly. "How long do you think it'll take?"

"I should be home by dinner. Hopefully."

"I was just hoping that you'd come with me. I didn't really want to take Jaden to the pediatrician by myself. What if something's wrong?" Joey continued anxiously.

"Just call me if you need me. I can put my conference on hold for a bit to speak with you. And if anything's serious, I'll come get you. All right?"

"All right. Well, what would you like for dinner tonight?" asked his Puppy. Seto presumed that the blond wanted to take his mind off Jaden's doctor's appointment.

"I don't know. Did you have anything planned?"

"I can make spaghetti…with my special meat sauce."

"And your cheesy rolls?" Seto added hopefully. He hated to admit it, but ever since Joey started cooking, he had a new affinity for food…especially eating it.

"Fine," Joey grumbled. "But don't eat them all before the kids even get to them…like you did last time."

"They were good!" Seto argued.

"You're going to get fat."

"If I do, it'll be your fault."

Joey placed his hands on his hips and gave Seto 'the look,' which ultimately made the brunet back down…but only just.

"We…should probably leave for school now," Seto suggested.

"You think?"

* * *

"We found a place! We found a place! We found a place!" Malik and Marik chanted as they bounced around Seto and Joey in their substitute Econ class.

"What the he—emp are you talking about?" Seto asked, correcting himself when Joey glared at him midway through his question. The brunet had almost broken one of his own rules: No swearing.

"Joey told us to find a place for this Duel Academy thing!" exclaimed Marik.

"And we did!" continued Malik.

Both Seto and Joey raised an eyebrow, disbelief showing on their faces.

"Where?" inquired Joey.

"We found an uninhabited island! And it has bird droppings!" answered Marik.

"What the—what do bird droppings have to do with finding an uninhabited island?" Seto asked heatedly.

"According to federal law, a United States citizen can take possession of any foreign, uninhabited island as long as it contains bird droppings," Malik stated matter-of-factly. It was a tad scary hearing that sort of technical language from him.

Seto tried to refrain from blowing up at them. "Let me explain something to you. We live…in Japan. Which means…we are not United States citizens; therefore, we cannot possess an island!"

"I can," Joey remarked suddenly. When Seto gave him a confused look, he elaborated his previous statement. "I have dual citizenship. For now, at least."

"What do you mean?" inquired Seto.

"Well…I'm a Japanese citizen, but I also acquired a second citizenship because I was born to my father, who's my non-Japanese citizen parent. I acquired his United States citizenship. But…this will only last until I'm twenty. However, if I don't renounce my foreign citizenship by that time, I'll automatically lose my Japanese citizenship. Japan doesn't allow for dual citizenship, but in some cases there are exceptions…like mine."

"See? So you can claim the island!" crowed Marik.

"I could," replied Joey, but his response seemed distant.

"We'll…look into it," said Seto. Right now, he had to find out why his Puppy had reacted in such a way. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm just…thinking."

"About?"

"If we claim this so-called island they found, would we only have it as long as I'm a citizen of the United States?"

"I'm not sure," Seto replied slowly. "But…if you wanted to…we could always move there."

"Where? The United States?" Joey exclaimed.

"Yes. I've been thinking of expanding Kaiba Corp. there for some time…and in order to do that, I'd have to be there for _long _periods of time. But now that I have you and a family to take care of…I don't want to. Not unless all of you come with me, that is."

"That's…well…we _do _have at least two years to consider this as an option. But…we _would _need to discuss this with Mokuba and Serenity. They have lives here, too, you know."

"I know. It was just a suggestion, Puppy. We don't need to make a decision yet."

Moving to the United States! Sure, Joey had thought of suggesting that they move into a smaller place, but moving to a different country? That hadn't been on his list, but maybe he _should_ consider it. Good things might come of it.

* * *

Mokuba was _really _happy that he was finally home from school. That meant he'd be alone with Serenity for some time before Joey got back from the doctor's with Jaden…and also before Seto got home from his conference.

There was something Mokuba had wanted to ask Serenity, but he hadn't been able to be alone with her for even _two _seconds so that he _could _ask.

"Mokuba, since we don't have any homework, do you want to play something?" Serenity asked the younger boy cheerfully.

"Sure. What do you want to play?" Mokuba felt like he could stare at Serenity's smile forever.

"Well…since Joey and Jaden aren't here, that means we can actually play a violent video game. Do you have any fighting ones?"

"You like fighting games?" Mokuba inquired incredulously. Okay, he was falling head over heels for her now!

"Yeah. But no one's been much of a challenge for me, and big brother tells me you're pretty good. Let's play one!"

"O-Okay!"

They ventured into the gaming room and Mokuba found _Dragonball Raging Blast _for them to play.

"Is this okay?" asked Mokuba.

"Oh! I _love _Dragonball Z!" exclaimed Serenity.

Yep. Mokuba was definitely falling in love.

* * *

Joey and Jaden made it home just in time to hear Serenity scream…and what a bloodcurdling scream it was.

Racing in the direction of where the scream had come from, the blond had made it to the living room just in time—

"Mokuba! Get it! Get it! Get it!" Serenity screamed again.

Taking note of the situation, Joey had concluded that Mokuba had just saved Serenity from…a spider.

"Got it!" Mokuba cried, racing out of the living room with the spider-filled tissue.

"Serenity, did you _have _to scream like that?" questioned Joey. "I thought something was seriously wrong."

"Something _was _seriously wrong! That spider was on my _leg_! My _leg_! You know I hate spiders!" Serenity explained.

Joey resisted the urge to let out an exasperated sigh. And when Mokuba returned, things got a little more interesting.

"Mokuba!" Serenity said, springing from the couch and into the startled boy. "Thank you! You're my hero!" And with that, she gave Mokuba a kiss on the cheek.

The small boy then started shaking, a huge blush on his face when Serenity left.

"Sh-Sh-She kissed me," Mokuba stammered to Joey.

"I kind of saw that," Joey replied amusedly. "Have you thought about asking her out on a date?"

"U-Um…yes, but…S-Seto won't let me date. I really do want to ask her…and I almost asked her earlier…but…"

"Are you afraid of what Seto and I might think?"

When Mokuba only nodded, Joey smiled at him warmly.

"I'll tell you what. I'll speak with Seto about you and Serenity dating, okay? However, I have a rule or two. Your dates will be constricted to the mansion until the both of you are in high school. But if it's something like going to the movies or the arcade, we'll need to discuss it. You two are still a bit young and it's a bit too early for the both you to be going out on dates alone."

"So…if I wanted to ask her to dinner, we'd have to stay here?"

"Yes, but I can make sure to set up something romantic for the two of you here. And I promise that Seto and I will leave you alone."

Mokuba seemed to dwell on this new information for a moment. "Okay, let's make a deal. You and Seto can have Friday nights as your date night and Serenity and I will babysit Jaden. Saturday nights will be date night for me and Serenity."

"All right, but you still have one little problem."

"What's that?" Mokuba asked, confused. What had he missed?

"You're making this deal under the assumption that Serenity will say yes to dating you."

The expression on Mokuba's face was priceless.

* * *

"Joey?" Seto called breathlessly as he entered the mansion. He briskly walked through the foyer, the scent of cheesy rolls guiding him on his way to find his Puppy.

When he got to the kitchen, he burst into it, panting heavily. It was like he'd just run a marathon or something.

"Seto? I thought you'd be back later," Joey commented when he noticed Seto's presence. "Is…everything okay?"

"I-It's great. The deal—Pegasus—oh, God I need to sit down!" the brunet gasped, grabbing a chair and planting himself into it heavily.

Joey filled a glass with water and brought it to him. "Drink this and tell me what happened."

Seto drank the glass in one gulp, and when his breathing finally calmed, he began speaking again.

"Pegasus _loves _your cards and I _do _mean _love_. He agreed to all of my terms without even batting an eye."

"Well, that's a good thing. So why are you so…so…jittery?" Joey replied.

"He's starting production of the cards _tonight_! And he said he'd send us the first round of cards by the end of this week! And he wants to know if you have any more ideas! And he said that he loved the new cards so much that the next time he sees you or me, he's going to hug us!"

The blond took a careful step away from his Dragon. Seto seemed a bit unstable for the time being. He wasn't sure what had made him this way. Was it the card productions? Pegasus agreeing to his terms? Or the fact that Pegasus would make physical contact with them?

Sighing, Joey went to the kitchen counter and grabbed the plate of cheesy rolls. Food therapy always worked wonders in these cases.

"Have a cheesy roll," Joey deadpanned as he dropped the plate in front of Seto.

His Dragon seemed to calm some after he picked up a cheesy roll. Taking a bite, Seto moaned. If Joey didn't know any better, he would have thought his cooking was giving the brunet an orgasm…but he knew better.

"Are you okay now?"

"Oh…yes," Seto sighed. He loved his Puppy's cheesy rolls. "Um…how was Jaden's appointment?"

"It went well. The doctor said to keep treating Jaden as we have been already and he gave me some vitamins for him. Other than having a high metabolism, he's fine," answered Joey.

"A high metabolism?"

"It means that Jaden's body burns calories at a greater rate than average. He can eat more food without gaining any additional weight, but I need to start calculating his caloric intake. Jaden needs to gain a bit more weight, so I have to determine how much more he needs to eat. Letting him eat until he's full and giving him snacks when he's hungry seems to be working. We have a check-up in a few weeks to see how much he's gained and such."

"Oh." Seto looked down at the plate of cheesy rolls, feeling bad that he was about to devour the whole thing when Jaden actually needed it more than him. He pushed the plate across the table. "Jaden can have these."

At this, Joey laughed.

"What's so funny?" Seto demanded, feeling as if he'd missed something.

"You don't need to do that. I made that plate especially for you. There are more cheesy rolls over there. I know that we eat a lot, so I've made plenty."

Seto rose from his seat, wondering how much 'plenty' meant in Joey terms. Inspecting the kitchen, his eyes widened. "You made enough food to feed half of Domino!"

"I'm making sure everyone gets their fill!" Joey said, feeling hurt.

"Puppy…I didn't mean to offend you or anything," Seto started, trying to appease him.

"I know…it's just…I'd rather have a lot of food left over than nothing at all. You don't know what it's like not having enough to eat and going to bed hungry," Joey whispered.

Seto didn't like where this conversation had taken them. Joey was probably seeing flashes from his life prior to coming here.

"If we do have leftovers, I'm sure they'll make good lunches tomorrow," stated Seto, pulling Joey into his arms. "I didn't mean to sound insulting. If you want to make feasts for dinner every night, go right ahead. I'm not complaining. I love your cooking too much for that."

The blond chuckled slightly in his arms. "You're a big softy, you know that?"

"Only around you…and Jaden…maybe even Serenity and Mokuba."

"I guess that's a really good thing," said Joey.

"And why is that?" Seto replied amusedly.

"Because it makes it easier to tell you something."

"And that would be?"

"Mokuba asked Serenity out…and she said yes."

"…WHAT?"

* * *

**End Chapter**


	11. 2nd Wednesday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 11 – Wednesday**

"Do you have a problem with them dating?" Joey asked as he walked with Seto and Jaden through the school.

"Well…no, but…aren't they a bit too young for this sort of thing?" responded the troubled brunet.

"A bit. Their dates will probably seem more like going out with friends for the time being, though. They're _far _too shy to do anything else other than play video games and watch movies," said Joey upon reaching their classroom.

Seto sighed, still unsure of how he felt about the situation, even though his Puppy had covered every facet of the impending relationship between their siblings.

"All right, little man. I'll see you fourth period," said Seto giving Jaden a final hug. But when he pulled away, Jaden wouldn't let go.

"Stay," Jaden whined.

"I can't stay with you right now. I have to go to class."

"No!" the small boy protested. "You have to stay!"

Seto looked up at Joey, nonverbally asking him for help. The blond stepped in right away, taking Jaden away from Seto.

"Jaden, I'll be here," Joey said comfortingly. "And Papa will be back soon."

"Daddy's right, you know. I _will _be back." Seto turned and walked away, but for some reason, he really felt like he shouldn't.

After Seto left, Joey took Jaden into the classroom and set him on the floor, shutting the door behind them.

"Why didn't you want Papa to leave?" Joey asked the now timid Jaden.

"Because now the monster's gonna come."

"What monster? I don't know what you're talking about, Jaden." Joey really didn't like the sound of that.

"When Papa leaves, Aoi goes with him, and that means the monster will come get me," explained Jaden.

"But…aren't Yubel, Akai, and…Winged Kuriboh here to protect you?" The blond figured that this was the only way to get information from Jaden. He hoped it would work.

The small boy shook his head violently. "No. The monster's a dark monster. Yubel and Akai are dark, too, so they can't make him go away. And Winged Kuriboh's not strong enough to make him leave."

Joey felt like his breathing had become shallow. "Do you see this monster now?"

"No. But he's coming."

"What about his name? Do you know that?"

Jaden nodded. "It's Brron."

* * *

Bakura felt uneasy. And that was unusual, even for him.

"Are you all right, Bakura?" Ryou asked, noticing the strange expression on his lover's face.

"Fine," he replied. There was no reason to worry Ryou. Not now, anyway. But he couldn't help but think that something was coming…something dark.

* * *

Joey frowned when his laptop suddenly went out. Had it died? It had been fully charged, hadn't it?

"Jaden, do you mind if I put you down for a minute?"

Ever since Seto had left, Jaden had all but glued himself to the blond's person.

"No," came the muffled reply.

Sighing, Joey stood with Jaden so that he could plug his laptop in, but just as he was about to do so, the lights flickered…then went out.

Joey tightened his grip on Jaden when the small boy let out a whimper. It was starting to get really cold. The blond's instincts were telling him to get out of the room as soon as possible. He had to get to Seto!

Racing over to the door with Jaden in his arms, Joey turned the knob. But it wouldn't open! It was like it was locked! He couldn't get the door open!

Sinking to the floor, Joey pulled out his cell phone. He needed to call Seto! But as he opened it, he noticed that it was dead, too.

* * *

Bakura shot up from his seat in the middle of class and just…stood there.

"What are you doing, Bakura? Sit down!" hissed Ryou. The class was looking at them.

Soon, Marik stood along with Bakura, but a little more slowly. "Did you feel that?" he asked.

"Yes," Bakura replied shortly.

Seto looked over at them and narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Just what the hell—

The lights flickered…and the energy in the room seemed to change. It was darker somehow.

"We need to get to Joey and Jaden, now!" ordered Bakura, bolting from the room. Seto and the others weren't far behind.

* * *

Joey didn't know what to do. He knew he needed to protect Jaden, but he didn't know how!

Both of them were scared out of their minds. The room had gotten darker, as if it had just hit midnight. The blond couldn't see a thing! But he could feel something's presence!

Sliding across the floor with Jaden in his arms, he moved more toward the center of the room. The pressure seemed to intensify the more he moved.

"Jaden," Joey whispered, holding the small boy firmly. He wouldn't let go. No matter what.

* * *

"What's going on, Bakura?" Seto snapped as they ran down the hall.

"Don't know. But we need to hurry," the former thief replied. "I think Joey and Jaden might be in trouble."

The brunet didn't have to hear that twice. He bolted past them, leaving Bakura, Ryou, Marik, Malik, Yugi, and Yami in his dust.

"Wait for us!" Yugi called out.

* * *

A witch-like cackle sounded in the room. It was so loud that Jaden covered his ears.

"Give me the boy," demanded a high-pitched voice.

"No!" Joey shouted into the darkness.

"If you won't give him to me willingly, then I'll take him by force!" the voice screamed.

* * *

Seto reached the door just in time to hear something similar to an explosion. It sounded like all the glass had just detonated.

"Joey?" Seto called as he twisted the doorknob. It wouldn't open. "Shit! Joey? Jaden? Answer me!"

"What happened?" panted Yami.

"I can't get the damn door open. Stand back!" Seto commanded. When they did so, he rammed himself into the door.

By the time he did it a third time, it burst open. And when it did, a flash of light seemed to flood the room as well, dispelling all of the darkness that had been there.

When everyone could see clearly again, they saw Joey lying in a heap on the floor, Jaden held firmly in his arms, and glass spewed all around them. All of the windows in the room had shattered.

Seto felt his heart constrict painfully. "Joey! Jaden!" he gasped. He sprinted across the room and knelt beside them. His hand shook as he stroked the blond's face.

Joey groaned and gradually opened his eyes. "Seto?"

"Puppy, you're okay!" Seto exclaimed, happy tears in his eyes.

"Papa?"

"Come here, Jaden," said Seto, opening his arms to him. But Joey wouldn't let him go.

"Puppy, let me take Jaden and then we'll get the two of you out of here, okay? It's not safe."

"I'm not letting him go," Joey stated firmly.

"What happened in here?" cried Yugi. The others had finally gone into the room.

"Daddy, Papa can take me. Aoi made the monster go away," said Jaden.

Joey looked down at Jaden, feeling quite helpless. He couldn't protect him. It hurt knowing that he couldn't protect him. The blond reluctantly handed Jaden to Seto.

"What monster? What is he talking about?" Seto questioned.

"A dark Duel Spirit is after Jaden," answered Joey as he tried standing up. He felt dizzy. "His name is Brron."

"What? Why is something coming after Jaden?" the brunet implored.

"I don't know," replied the blond. He placed a hand to his head. It felt like he was getting dizzier.

"Puppy!" Seto cried as Joey started to collapse. He caught him before he fell, but just barely. His Puppy was out cold.

Bakura and Marik ran over and relieved Seto of Joey. The former thief then lifted the blond, saying, "You should take them home. We'll sort everything out later."

Seto nodded and pulled out his cell phone to call his driver.

Twenty minutes later, he loaded Jaden and Joey into the limo. The blond had yet to wake up.

"Kaiba, I just want to let you know that we're going to do all that we can to figure out what's going on," stated Yami. "We'll call you if we find anything."

"Thank you," replied Seto before slipping into the limo. He pulled Jaden into his lap and rested Joey's head on his leg.

"Is Daddy gonna be okay?" asked Jaden worriedly.

"I hope so, Jaden. I hope so." But the brunet was extremely puzzled. This incident had happened so suddenly! And he couldn't help but think that it was all going to get a lot worse.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	12. 2nd Thursday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 12 – Thursday**

Joey groaned slightly, placing a hand to his aching head. Just what the hell happened to him?

"You're awake!"

The blond opened his eyes, his gaze fixating on Seto's concerned expression. Soon, the memory of what had happened came flooding back.

"Jaden!" Joey gasped, bolting upright.

Seto pushed him back down. "Jaden's fine. He's in his room playing."

"His room?" Joey was confused. Jaden had been sharing _their _room. He didn't have a room of his own yet.

"Puppy…you've been unconscious since yesterday morning," Seto stated awkwardly.

"Yesterday? What…time is it now?" asked Joey slowly.

"About three in the afternoon."

"I've been out that long?" Joey shook his head as if to clear it. "Jaden's all right?"

"He's fine. Yesterday, Jaden's furniture came in, so his room was set up. He's right next to ours."

"I want to see him," Joey pleaded.

Seto was reluctant to let the blond get up, but he knew that if he didn't, Joey would just do it anyway.

"Okay," the brunet replied, helping Joey up. They walked down the hall—very slowly—and into Jaden's room.

"Daddy!" the small boy cried, racing over to the blond. "You're awake! You slept more than me!"

Joey chuckled lightly. "So everything's okay?"

Jaden nodded. "Papa's here, so the monster can't get me anymore."

Seto felt Joey stiffen—but only slightly—when Jaden said those words. And to the brunet, everything that had happened yesterday seemed like a dream.

"Yugi and the others are stopping by in a bit. They wanted to see how you were doing…and a package came in for you today," said Seto, trying to make Joey think of other things.

"A package? From who?"

"Pegasus."

"Hey, Jaden. Do you want to come with me and Papa? You can help me open the package," offered Joey.

"Okay," Jaden replied happily.

Seto led the two of them back into their room, and when Joey and Jaden had settled themselves on the bed, the brunet gave his Puppy a medium-sized box.

"It can't be the cards, can it?" Joey inquired as he started tearing off the packaging tape.

"Knowing Pegasus, it might be. He even sent this express. Who knows what he paid to have it here by today. He started production of the cards not even two days ago," responded the brunet.

When Joey had finally gotten the tape off, he opened the box, only to find four smaller boxes buried inside the Styrofoam peanuts; they were the size of a card deck.

Opening the first box, Joey discovered that it was the Cyber Dragon Deck. "This is for you," Joey said, handing Seto the deck.

"Is there one for me?" asked Jaden, looking eagerly at the other two boxes.

"There should be," replied the blond.

The next box contained the Vehicroid Deck, which was for Yugi. The third, however, held the Elemental Hero Deck he'd created; this was for Jaden.

"This is going to be your deck," announced Joey as he handed Jaden the Elemental Hero Deck. "We'll teach you how to duel, too."

Jaden took the deck and happily looked through all the cards.

"What's that one?" Seto inquired, noticing for the first time that there was a fourth box.

The blond didn't answer, and as he opened it, he gasped. "He found it!"

"Who found what?" Seto frowned at Joey's stunned expression.

"Pegasus cracked my encryption! I had a deck that I created for myself encrypted in code in the other three decks! He found it! I…hadn't wanted anyone to know about it yet. I completely forgot about it when I gave you the files," answered Joey.

"What kind of a deck do you have?" Seto was really curious. Just what kind of a deck had his Puppy created for himself.

"It's a Red-Eyes Deck. I created some new cards that would allow me to revolve my deck around my Red-Eyes."

"May I see it?"

"Sure." Joey handed him the new deck.

The Red-Eyes Deck consisted of:

Normal Monsters – Hunter Dragon and Red-Eyes B. Dragon x 2

Effect Monsters – Attachment Dragon, Cave Dragon, Mirage Dragon, Red-Eyes B. Chick, Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, Red-Eyes Darkness Metal Dragon, Red-Eyes Wyvern, Spear Dragon, and Troop Dragon x 2

Spells – A Wingbeat of Giant Dragon, Dark Factory of Mass Production, Dragon's Gunfire, Dragon Heart, Inferno Fire Blast, Mystical Space Typhoon, Super Rejuvenation, and Swing of Memories

Traps – Burst Breath, Call of the Haunted, Magic Reflector Armor – Metal Plus, Negate Attack, Offensive Guard, Red-Eyes Burn, and Red-Eyes Spirit

"These are amazing," said Seto. The artwork was truly something to behold.

"It's not a complete deck, but I'll add them to some of my other cards," replied Joey proudly.

"Papa! Look at mine!" exclaimed Jaden, so the brunet took the small boy's deck and started going through the cards.

The Elemental Hero Deck consisted of:

Normal Monsters – Elemental Hero Avian, Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, Elemental Hero Clayman, Elemental Hero Sparkman

Effect Monsters – Dark Catapulter, Elemental Hero Bladedge, Elemental Hero Bubbleman, Elemental Hero Necroshade, Elemental Hero Wildheart, Hero Kid x 3, and Wroughtweiler

Fusion Monsters – Elemental Hero Electrum, Elemental Hero Flame Wingman, Elemental Hero Mariner, Elemental Hero Mudballman, Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster, Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman, Elemental Hero Steam Healer, Elemental Hero Tempest, Elemental Hero Thunder Giant, and Elemental Hero Wildedge

Spells – Battle Fusion, Bubble Blaster, Bubble Illusion, Bubble Shuffle, Burst Impact, Burst Return, Clay Wrap, Courageous Charge!, De-Fusion x 2, Double Spell, E – Emergency Call, Emergency Provisions, Fairy of the Spring, Feather Shot, Fusion Gate, Fusion Recovery, Fusion Sage, H – Heated Heart, HERO Flash!, Hero Heart, Miracle Fusion, Monster Reborn, Monster Reincarnation, Mud Max, O – Oversoul, Polymerization x 2, Pot of Greed, R – Righteous Justice, Skyscraper, Spark Blaster, Special Hurricane, Spy Hero, The Warrior Returning Alive, and Wild Half

Traps – A Hero Emerges, Clay Charge, Cross Heart, Draining Shield, Edge Hammer, Elemental Burst, Feather Wind, Final Fusion, Hero Barrier, Hero Ring, Hero Signal, Hero Spirit, Miracle Kids, Mirror Force, Mirror Gate, Negate Attack, Solemn Judgment, and Soul Union

"These are great, but…there don't really seem to be enough monsters in this deck," commented Seto. "It's loaded with spells and traps."

"That's what you think," Joey replied mysteriously. "The duel isn't over until the last card is played."

"Okay! I think I know how to duel now!" Jaden said suddenly. Both Seto and Joey looked down at him.

"Huh?" Seto and Joey responded in unison.

"Yubel told me. It sounds like fun! Can I duel Uncle Yami when he gets here? Please?" Jaden begged.

"Um…okay," the blond answered.

Jaden threw himself at Joey and hugged him. "Thank you! And thanks for the cards, too! I'm gonna go prepare for my duel with Yami!" he said before running out of the room.

"Seto?"

"Yes, Puppy?"

"If Jaden somehow manages to beat Yami in a duel…what do you think will happen?"

"If we're lucky, he'll keel over and die," Seto grumbled.

Joey whacked him with a pillow. "Be nice!" he scolded. "Well, what do you think will happen?"

"For starters, I'll be fucking pissed. I've made a career out of facing Yami and losing. And if Jaden beats him the first time he duels…I'll have the best blackmail ever," Seto replied suddenly, just coming to realize this new piece of information. His grin grew lecherous.

The blond sighed. It was going to be a very interesting afternoon.

* * *

"They're here! They're here! They're here!" Jaden shouted, jumping up and down in the foyer as Seto answered the door.

The brunet opened the door and was immediately accosted by Yugi.

"Is Joey okay? Has he woken up yet? How is he?"

"Yugi, I'm fine," Joey called from within the mansion.

"Oh, Joey! I was so worried!" Yugi exclaimed, latching himself onto the blond.

Joey smiled and pulled something from his pocket. "I have something for you."

"What is it?" asked Yugi, trying to peer at what the blond held in his hand, but Joey kept it out of his reach. "Come on! Let me see! Are those new cards?"

"Stop teasing him. You're setting a bad example for Jaden," mocked Seto. Messing with Yugi was more a hobby than anything else…for everyone.

"Now, Yugi," said Joey, prolonging the inevitable, "these cards have only been seen by me, Seto, and Pegasus."

Yugi's eyes widened.

"I created these cards myself."

Yugi's eyes widened even _more_.

"And I created them for you."

You couldn't even _see _Yugi's face, his eyes were so big!

Joey then handed Yugi the cards. He took them enthusiastically and started looking through them. Yugi almost looked like he'd just gotten everything he wanted for his birthday and Christmas at the same time.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" Yugi gasped, hugging Joey again.

"You can let go now, Yugi," Joey said as calmly as he could. It was getting hard to breathe. Who knew the guy was that strong? "Can someone help me over here?"

Yami soon came to Joey's rescue, prying his lover from Joey.

"These cards are so cool, Yami!" Yugi looked like he was going to pounce on him next.

"Don't we get anything?" announced Bakura.

Seto stifled a groan. Of course, everyone else they knew had to show up at their doorstep. Ryou was looking wearily at Bakura, Malik and Marik seemed like they were scoping out the place, Duke and Tristan were arguing with each other about…something, and Tea just stood there waiting to break up a fight if need be.

"Would everyone just can it!" roared the brunet. He couldn't take their little jabbering anymore.

"Papa!" Jaden whined, tugging on Seto's sleeve. "Daddy promised I could duel Uncle Yami! I wanna duel!"

_That _shut everyone up!

"Ooh! This I gotta see!" Bakura said, a giddy expression on his face.

But Yami's reactions was the one to behold. His eyes had widened slightly, but only for a moment, before narrowing to slits. He stared at Jaden for a moment or two. "You're on!"

"But…Yami! You don't have your deck with you!" declared Yugi.

Yami's competitive aura vanished. He looked utterly defeated.

"Wait! You can use the deck Joey gave me!" Yugi exclaimed as if struck by sudden inspiration. He handed the Vehicroid Deck to him.

Looking through the cards, Yami felt a _lot _better about dueling Jaden. This was a fairly strong deck and he could already make out some very useful strategies.

"All right, Jaden. It looks like we can have our duel. But I must warn you, I'm not the King of Games for nothing," Yami stated.

"I take it Checkers isn't a game then?" taunted Bakura.

"Why you—" Yami launched himself at Bakura, tackling him to the ground. "Take that back!"

"If you don't stop this nonsense at once, I'm going to blast you all with a fire extinguisher!" bellowed Seto.

"Pfft…that stuff doesn't work," said Marik.

"It does if I hit you with it!" the brunet retorted.

Everyone ceased fighting at that point.

* * *

They had finally proceeded to the gaming room. A table had been set up in the middle of the room where Jaden and Yami were preparing to duel. Everyone else had grabbed chairs and surrounded them so they could watch.

"We'll start out with 4000 Life Points each," began Yami. "Yugi will keep track of mine and Joey will keep track of yours. You may go first."

"All right, Uncle Yami! Get your game on!" said Jaden as he drew a card.

"That was absolutely adorable," commented Ryou.

"Okay! I'm gonna summon Elemental Hero Avian (ATK 1000 / DEF 1000) in attack mode and set one card," said Jaden.

Yami smirked. "I summon Patroid (ATK 1200 / 1200) in attack position and I attack your Elemental Hero Avian!"

"I activate my trap card! Negate Attack! Your battle phase is over now, Uncle Yami!"

Crossing his arms, Yami averted his eyes. Perhaps he had rushed things a bit.

"Hey, this kid is pretty good!" said Marik. "How long has he been playing?"

"Today," answered Seto quietly. The only one who didn't seemed to be shocked…was Joey.

"Now I summon Elemental Hero Sparkman (ATK 1600 / DEF 1400) in attack mode and he's gonna attack your Patroid," said Jaden. Yami's Life Points dropped to 3600. "And now Avian is gonna attack your Life Points directly!" When Yami's Life Points hit 2600, Jaden set a card.

"I activate the spell card Pot of Greed. This allows me to draw two cards. I now activate another spell card! Polymerization! To fuse Gyroid and Steamroid to Fusion Summon Steam Gyroid (ATK 2200 / DEF 1600) in attack position! Steam Gyroid will now attack your Avian!"

Jaden's Life Points dropped to 2800. "I'm sorry, Avian," he apologized.

"It's you move, Jaden." _Let's see how you'll respond to that_, thought Yami.

Jaden drew his next card…then looked at Joey. When the blond nodded, Jaden smiled.

"I activate Polymerization to fuse Elemental Hero Clayman and Elemental Hero Sparkman to Fusion Summon Elemental Hero Thunder Giant (ATK 2400 / DEF 1500) in attack mode! Now I activate his effect to destroy Steam Gyroid! Next, I summon Elemental Hero Burstinatrix in attack mode. Elemental Hero Thunder Giant and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix are gonna attack your Life Points directly! That's game, Uncle Yami!"

The cards fell from Yami's hands and fluttered to the floor as he started to hyperventilate. His Life Points had just hit 0. "Th-This…can't be!"

"I did it, Daddy!" exclaimed Jaden as he hugged Joey.

"I saw," the blond replied, smiling.

"Did you see me, Papa? I beat Uncle Yami!"

"I know," started Seto. "You did a really great job."

However, something was _still _bothering him. What had been that moment been about when Joey and Jaden had looked at each other? Something strange seemed to be going on between the two.

He _was _extremely proud of Jaden for winning, but…this had been his first duel _ever_. How had he known how to duel? And now that he thought about it…could Jaden even _read _the cards?

"Stop thinking so much," whispered Joey, drawing Seto from his thoughts. "He instinctually knows how to duel. The reason he looked to me was because…he wanted to make sure that it was okay for him to win the duel. Jaden's…special…and we'll leave it at that…for now."

Seto frowned. If that was all there was to it, then why was weird shit happening all over again? And this Yubel person. Was she actually someone who could be trusted? Joey seemed to think so, but the brunet wasn't sure that he did.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	13. 2nd Friday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Friday**

Joey looked a lot better today…even if he was still asleep. Seto didn't have the heart to wake him, but he knew he had to. There was a lot going on today; a lot Joey didn't know about…and he needed to tell him.

Running his hand through the blond's hair, his Puppy's eyes fluttered open, a sweet smile on his face.

"Morning, Dragon," Joey greeted sleepily.

"Morning, Puppy," Seto replied, leaning down for a kiss. "We have a lot to do today."

"Why? What's there to do?" asked the blond, stretching.

"We need to get to school early for our business project presentation. I pulled some strings and we'll be setting up in the auditorium; we're presenting in front of the whole school. Then, this afternoon, Serenity and Mokuba will be at a sports event for school, so Yugi offered to babysit Jaden for us while we go out on our date," the brunet explained.

"Serenity and Mokuba knew that they were supposed to babysit tonight! How could they—"

"Apparently they were…volunteered to work at the event. It seems teachers are getting quite sneaky with this whole detention thing," smirked Seto.

Joey suddenly felt a bit uneasy. What if something happened to Jaden while they were on their date? "I'm not sure if we should leave Jaden."

"Puppy, nothing's going to happen. Not only will Yugi _and _Yami be there, but Malik, Marik, Ryou, and Bakura will look after him as well. They're going to take him to the arcade, get him something to eat, and he'll be too occupied with playing games with them to think of anything else. And besides…do you really think his uncles are going to let anything happen to him?"

"I don't know about this."

"You worry too much sometimes. Everything will be fine," said Seto. "I know what will make you feel better."

"What?" Joey inquired, still worrying about leaving Jaden.

"Let's take a shower," Seto growled, yanking his Puppy against him. "Together."

"We do that _every _morning," replied Joey with a frown.

"We don't _make love _every morning." Seto stared at him lecherously.

Joey's eyes widened, a shocked look on his face. "We can't do that today! We have school!"

"I don't care."

"Well, I do!" Joey protested.

"Come on, Puppy. Please?" the brunet responded, planting gentle kisses on his neck. "Please? I want to make you feel good. Please?"

Joey melted when Seto started begging. "Okay."

* * *

"Augh! We're never going to get everything ready in time for fourth period!" Tristan groaned. He was currently fighting with a mannequin that wore one of the uniforms Tea had put together.

"We can do it! We still have…two hours?" exclaimed Duke, looking at his watch. He looked around the auditorium. It was a mess. They were never going to finish.

Joey was about ready to pull his hair out. Bakura and Marik were currently missing in action—but maybe that was a good thing—and Yami was just…spacing out.

"Calm down, Puppy. We'll finish," encouraged Seto. But even _he _had his doubts.

Jaden looked at his parents and then his eyes lingered to his Uncle Yami. He seemed so sad. The small boy took out his deck and pulled out one of the cards his Daddy had given especially for him. His Papa didn't even know about it…as well as a few other cards.

Walking up to his Uncle Yami, Jaden handed over the card. "This is for _you_, Uncle Yami."

The former pharaoh seemed to come out of his daze and looked down at the card offered him. It was Winged Kuriboh. "You're giving me this?"

Jaden nodded.

"Why?"

"Because ya look sad. Is it because I beat ya yesterday? It's okay if ya lose, Uncle Yami. Dueling is supposed to be fun! Ya just gotta play better next time…and get some new cards! So take this one!" Jaden explained.

Fun. When was the last time he'd thought of dueling as fun? Yami smiled. It was amazing how it took one small boy to make him see the truth in those words. "Thank you, Jaden."

"You're welcome!" And then he marched off to his Daddy.

"That was very nice, Jaden," commented Joey.

"He needs it more than me," replied the small boy.

"I agree."

"Hey, Blondie!" Bakura barked. He and Marik had just arrived.

"Jaden, go play with Yugi," Joey directed, his eyes narrowing at the two. "Where have you guys been?"

"We've been working on some new card ideas we want you to create," said Bakura.

"This I have to see," stated Seto, crossing his arms.

Joey tried to quell his anger. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner they'd be able to get done. "Let me see."

Taking the paper that had been thrust into his face, Joey's eyes panned the cards they'd created…and balked. "What the—Transvestite Dragon? Grand Master Pimp? What the hell are these?" the blond roared.

"They're cards for the stupid pharaoh," stated Bakura matter-of-factly. "I must say, they are quite fitting."

"What the hell is Zombie Rapist?" Seto inquired, his eyebrows shooting upward.

"Ooh! That one's mine!" cackled Bakura. "It's a zombie who's a rapist! Oh! And he attacks your Life Points directly!"

Suddenly, Seto had a very unwanted, but wanted, image cross his mind.

* * *

_Seto's Imagination_

"_Now my Zombie Rapist," started Bakura, "attack Yami's Life Points directly!"_

"_No!" Yami screamed as he was suddenly assaulted by the Duel Monster._

"_You can do it, Yami!" shouted Tea._

"_Yeah! You can do it all night long!" hooted Tristan and Duke simultaneously._

_End Seto's Imagination_

* * *

"That's it!" Joey screamed, finally losing all patience he had. He was fuming! Bakura and Marik actually looked scared.

Seto had _never _seen his Puppy so angry.

"I have _had _it with you two fooling around! If you don't help out around here by the time I count to three, you…will…be…sorry!" the blond growled.

"Pfft. You won't do anything," said Marik.

"One," started Joey, his eyes hidden behind his bangs.

"You're so scary!" taunted Bakura.

"Two," continued Joey, raising his head.

Seto took a step back. The blond's eyes had changed color; one was orange, the other turquoise. But Bakura and Marik didn't seem to notice.

"Three," Joey finished. A ripple of energy seemed to make its way through the entire auditorium.

_Now _Bakura and Marik were paying attention.

"I'd look out if I were you," the blond stated, his voice low.

It was then Marik and Bakura felt hot breath on their necks. Slowly turning around, they came face to face with—

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon?" screeched Marik.

"Run, you idiot! Run!" Bakura shouted, dragging Marik with him.

Seto was stunned. He was literally watching Red-Eyes chase them. It…It was real!

"Are you all right, Master? You look a bit pale."

The brunet froze. Tilting his head ever so slightly, he nearly fell over from shock. "Blue-Eyes?" he squeaked.

"Aoi, to be more precise, Master. It seems…your mate was quite angry. He's temporarily fused himself with Yubel. Her power is bringing Duel Spirits to your world physically, although, I am not sure how long this will last," explained the regal dragon.

"Akai, you can stop now," ordered Joey. The Red-Eyes stopped his chasing of the two and returned to his Master's side.

"That was fun. You should call us out more often," responded Akai.

Joey wasn't sure he agreed, but it gave him an idea. "Jaden, call the spirits from your deck out," he said.

"Okay," Jaden replied, pulling out his deck. "Come on out, everybody!"

Jaden's deck began to glow, and soon they were surrounded by Elemental Heroes. Joey approached them as if it were the most normal thing in the world while everyone else remained frozen to their spots.

"What do you say we get this place fixed up for our presentation, hm?" suggested Joey.

The Duel Spirits all nodded and set to work in helping them prepare for their business project presentation.

"J-Joey?" Seto managed to say after awhile.

"Yes, Seto?"

"You're _you_…aren't you?"

The blond turned the eyes that were not his toward him. "I'm still me…but when I lose it, Yubel takes over in order to calm me down. It won't last long…and it only happens when I'm either extremely angry or…severely hurt…emotionally."

"What do you mean?"

"Yubel can…make me forget things I don't want to remember," Joey answered vaguely, and Seto left it at that.

* * *

About an hour later, the auditorium was finished and the Duel Spirits had…ceased being visible. At least to everyone other than Jaden, Joey and Bakura. They were kind of scary when they were solid.

"That was fun!" Jaden exclaimed. "Can we play with them again later?"

Joey smiled at him, his amber eyes sparkling with happiness. Jaden could be so cute sometimes. "We'll see. But we have a presentation to get through and you get to spend the afternoon and evening with your uncles."

"Really? This is gonna be fun! Are you and Papa coming, too?"

"No. Papa and I are going to do something else, but we'll come get you later tonight." Joey wasn't sure if Jaden understood what he was saying or not, but the small boy readily agreed anyway. And then Jaden raced off in order to find Yugi.

"Are you all right, Puppy?" Seto asked when the blond leaned into him.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired," Joey replied.

"Was it…Yubel?"

"Don't worry about it. I always get like this after Yubel leaves me."

"So…this has happened before? Yubel has possessed you before?"

"It's…It's not what you think. I let her take over. She's never done it against my will. Yubel always asks if she should take over," Joey clarified hurriedly.

"How many times has she…taken over?" Seto wasn't sure he liked this. He wasn't sure he like this at all.

"A few times," Joey answered quietly. "And please don't ask me for details. It's not like I'd remember them anyway."

Seto watched as Joey wandered off to where Jaden was. What was his Puppy talking about? Did he mean that whenever something really bad happened to him, Yubel would just…erase the memory from his mind? Was it actually wise to trust someone who had that much power?

The brunet just hoped Joey knew what he was doing, because he surely didn't when it came to Duel Spirits.

* * *

"I am _so_ glad school is over," Joey muttered into Seto's neck. They'd given their presentation—which had been a _huge _success—and cleaned up the auditorium afterward, finished the rest of the school day, sent Jaden to go with Yugi and the rest, and now here he was, inside the limo with his lover on their way to their date.

"And just think. After next week, we'll have graduated from high school," added Seto.

"I know. So…what are we doing for our date?"

"How does a nice, romantic dinner sound?"

"It sounds peaceful," replied the blond.

"Good."

The limo gradually came to a stop, and both he and Joey stepped outside. The blond gasped at the sight before him.

"This place is beautiful," said Joey.

"I knew you'd like it. Just wait until you see where we're eating."

"This place is a restaurant? It looks like some fancy resort!"

And it did. The building itself was actually quite large and magnificently structured. This place just _looked _like it was meant for the rich.

Seto took his curious Puppy inside, where the Maître D' soon led them to a balcony on the second floor. It overlooked the entire city of Domino. And since it was now evening, the lights from the city seemed to dance in the dim lighting.

"This is so beautiful."

"Anything for my Puppy."

* * *

"You want to take Jaden where?" inquired Ryou, staring at his lover suspiciously. Everyone was currently at the arcade, and for some strange reason, Bakura, Marik, and Yami had decided that they wanted to look after Jaden for awhile.

"The ball pit," Bakura answered. "It's the big pit with all kinds of different colored balls about two feet deep."

"I _know _what a ball pit is, Bakura. I just want to know why you three want to take him there," Ryou clarified.

Bakura huffed. He wasn't getting anywhere with this. There was no way in hell he was going to tell Ryou the truth! Besides, what would Ryou think if he found out that it was actually him, Marik, and Yami who wanted to play in the ball pit and not Jaden? They were just using him as an excuse.

"He's never played in one before," Yami cut in. Yugi had to admit, he sounded a bit too eager.

"Yeah! Let the kid be a kid!" added Marik.

"Fine," Ryou gave in. "You three can take him, but make sure you _watch _him."

"Yes!" Bakura cheered, high-fiving the other two. They picked up Jaden and raced off for the ball pit.

"Do you think this is a good idea, Ryou?" Yugi asked hesitantly.

"Oh, yes," replied Ryou.

* * *

"Thank you so much for this, Seto. I think I really needed this," said Joey while they ate their meal in the moonlight.

"I thought you might like it. With the stress from everything that's been going on, I thought we could use a little quiet time," Seto stated thoughtfully.

"It's actually amazing how quiet it is without Jaden."

"I could get used to this."

"Seto," Joey growled warningly.

"I'm just kidding."

* * *

"Ha, ha! Take _that _pharaoh!" exclaimed Bakura as he threw a colored ball at him.

Yami ducked and dove further into the ball pit, his hair sticking out like a shark fin. "I'll get you for that!"

"Dog pile!" cried Marik, jumping into the ball pit. The balls seemed to fly everywhere.

"Don't jump! You'll crush Jaden!" Yami declared.

Speaking of which…where was he?

"Don't worry. He's right over here," said Marik, reaching over some of the balls to where Jaden was. His hand grabbed the small boy's jacket…but that was all he grabbed. "Where is he?"

"What do you mean where is he? You lost him?" shrieked Yami.

"What do you mean me? You're supposed to be the responsible one! If our Hikaris are going to blame anyone, it'll be you!" Marik retaliated.

"Shit!" hissed Bakura. "Ryou's coming! Act natural!"

"How is everything?" asked Ryou as he checked on them.

"Everything's great!" the three replied cheerfully.

"And Jaden?"

"H-He's fine, too. W-Wave to Uncle Ryou, Jaden," Bakura stammered. Marik and Yami were holding Jaden's jacket upright in order to make it look like the small boy was wearing it. They ever had the hood lifted to make it seem as if he were _really _there, too.

Yami's eye twitched as he waved the empty jacket sleeve, but Ryou bought it!

"Okay. I'll come check on you guys in a bit. We'll be leaving soon, anyhow," said Ryou as he left.

"What are we gonna do?" whispered Bakura frantically.

"We'll just steal someone else's kid and pass him off as Jaden until we find him," suggested Marik.

Yami smacked him in the head. "We can't do that, you idiot!"

"You have a better idea?" Marik quipped.

"Of course I do! We'll look for him!"

Bakura's eyes widened. "What if Marik crushed him when he jumped into the ball pit? Jaden could still be here! Under the balls!"

The three of them suddenly dove under the balls in search of Jaden.

"Ryou, don't you think we should tell them Jaden isn't missing?" Yugi asked as he, Ryou, and Malik watched their Yamis search hysterically for the three-year-old.

"Not yet. They need to learn how to become responsible individuals sometime," replied Ryou.

* * *

"I got something for you," Seto announced while they looked up at the stars from the restaurant's balcony.

Joey's eyes widened in surprise. "You didn't have to get me anything, Seto."

"I know I didn't, but…I wanted to," he replied, reaching into his jacket. He pulled out a flat box no bigger than a book and handed it to him.

The blond took it apprehensively. He unwrapped the box and opened it, taking out the contents with confusion clearly written on his features. "A t-shirt?"

Seto nodded. "Stand up and hold it against you. I want to see how it looks."

Joey did so and held the black shirt up against him, still quite puzzled. "This is long. It goes halfway down my thighs."

"Perfect."

"Perfect? What do you mean by perfect?" Joey was _not _liking the look he was getting.

"I _mean_…that now you can wear things like this to bed," Seto stated, rising from his seat and heading over to his Puppy. "And you won't have to wear _anything _underneath since it's so long."

Joey gaped at him. "You perverted freak! You just want easy access! And may I ask what _you'll _be wearing to bed from now on?"

"Nothing. But I can always keep a pair of boxers handy if need be," the brunet smirked. His Puppy glared at him, making him chuckle. "You know you like the idea as much as I do, so just admit it already."

"Never," Joey retorted haughtily.

* * *

"I can't believe we lost him," said Bakura as he choked back a sob. Marik and Yami seemed to be in the same state…and it looked rather strange since they were currently bawling in each other's arms in the ball pit.

"Lost who, Uncle Kura?"

Bakura spun around in the ball pit, successfully taking out both Yami and Marik. "You!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at Jaden.

"But you didn't lose me, Uncle Kura," Jaden argued.

"Oh my, Ra! You're okay!" Bakura shouted as he launched himself at the small boy, embracing him in a hug. "Don't you ever disappear like that again!"

"Well…at least we don't have to worry about our Hikaris killing us for losing Jaden," muttered Marik as he sat back up in the balls.

"What was that, Marik?" inquired Malik.

The three Yamis turned around, only to see Yugi, Ryou, and Malik staring them down.

"Um…Ryou…we can explain everything!" Bakura stated as optimistically as he could.

* * *

"Do you think Jaden had fun tonight?" Joey asked happily. He was in a really good mood.

"I certainly hope so. Maybe they wore him out, too," Seto smiled as he opened the door to the Game Shop.

"Daddy! Papa!" Jaden exclaimed, running toward them. Joey automatically lifted him up in his arms.

"Hey, Jaden. Did you have fun?" inquired Joey.

"Yep! They lost me!" the small boy declared.

The blond inhaled sharply. "What? What do you _mean _they lost you?"

"Joey, it's not what you think," announced Ryou, stepping into the conversation. "Bakura, Marik, and Yami decided they wanted to take Jaden to the ball pit in the arcade."

"After awhile, Jaden came back over to us since the three of _them _decided to play in the ball pit rather than him," added Malik.

"We had our eyes on Jaden the whole time. Babysitting is like second nature when you have lovers like them," continued Ryou.

"I resent that fact!" snapped Bakura.

"Ryou thought it would be a good idea to teach them responsibility," Yugi explained further. "When they realized Jaden was gone, they panicked and started looking for him. It really shook them up a bit."

"Of course it did!" shouted Marik.

"Jaden was gone for _five _whole minutes!" put in Yami.

"We sent Jaden back over when the three of them started crying," finished Malik. "I think they really did some growing up tonight."

"Teaching them responsibility seems to have that effect," said Ryou.

"Responsibility! You want to teach me responsibility?" exclaimed Bakura. "If you want to teach me to be responsible, you start off small! Like taking out the trash! Doing the dishes! NOT TAKING CARE OF A LIVING HUMAN BEING!"

"Well, then I'm glad you mentioned those as options!" snapped Ryou.

"I…think it's time to go," suggested Seto. It looked like a brawl was going to break out, and he really didn't want to be here for that.

"Yeah…bye, guys!" Joey said as he, Seto, and Jaden rushed out the door. From the way things were sounding, it seemed like the Game Shop was in for World War III.

Oh, well. At least Jaden was all right.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	14. 2nd Saturday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Saturday**

Yubel stared longingly at the two sleeping lovers on the bed. Seto and Joey were cuddling with one another, deep in sleep as far as she could tell. They looked peaceful…and she wished desperately that she could have the love Joey shared with Seto.

Love was a complicated thing, and Yubel wasn't sure she quite understood it. From growing up with Joey, she knew all about pain and suffering…both physically and mentally. Anything the blond had felt, she had felt, too.

But this—love—was something she could not tap into with Joey. And she didn't know why. Yubel wanted to know what he was feeling that made him appear so happy…and not so alone.

An idea suddenly came to mind. Perhaps she _could_ know what love was all about; however, she needed to do this carefully if she ever expected it to work.

* * *

Joey yawned, stretching as he rolled over into the vacant spot next to him in bed. Vacant? Opening his eyes, he noticed that Seto was nowhere to be seen. That was odd. It was a Saturday morning; a very _early _Saturday morning. They should be sleeping in.

"Seto?" the blond called sleepily as he rose from the bed. Trudging toward their bathroom, he caught sight of the bathroom light. So he was in there, was he? "Seto, come back to bed. It's still early."

Stepping into the bathroom, Joey paused. Seto was staring at himself in the mirror…but something was off. He could feel it.

"Seto?" Joey called again. Although, this time, he was more hesitant.

The brunet's eyes flashed to him almost immediately, but there was one problem; they weren't Seto's eyes. One was orange and the other was turquoise.

"Yubel." Joey's voice sounded like a hoarse whisper.

"Hello, Joey," Yubel responded. The voice that came from the now possessed Seto was both his and hers.

"What do you think you're doing?" the blond exclaimed. Yubel had _never _done anything like this before.

Yubel approached Joey slowly before stopping right in front of him, a strange look in her eyes. "It's only temporary," she assured him. "But there _is_ something I want before I leave his body."

Joey was confused. Just what did Yubel want? This was…so completely out of the ordinary for her.

The blond backed out of the bathroom so that he and Yubel were in the bedroom. "This is unlike you, Yubel. You had no right to take over Seto's body. Did you even ask for permission? If you wanted to talk to me—"

"Please don't be angry with me," interrupted Yubel, stroking Joey's cheek with her hand. "There is just something I want to know."

Unnerved by the behavior Yubel was now displaying, all Joey could do was respond feebly. "What do you want to know?"

Yubel leaned into his face. "Do you love me?"

"What?" Joey gasped.

"I asked if you love me."

"Yubel…I…I care about you as much as I care about any of my other friends, so I guess that is a kind of love. We've been through a lot together. I…I don't love you like I do Seto, if that's what you're getting at," he explained carefully.

"So you _do _love me," Yubel said, smiling. "I knew you did. I love you as well and I wanted to show that to you."

_Show that to me? _Joey wasn't sure what she meant by that. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

Taking Joey's hands in hers, she led the blond to the bed. After they sat down, she elaborated. "I've looked after you almost your entire life and guarded you in the best ways I knew how, even if it meant taking some of those bad memories away. I lived with those memories regardless of how much pain they made you feel…made _me _feel. But in return, you took care of me, befriended me, and I wasn't alone anymore. And after everything that had happened to you, there was one thing I could never do."

"And what was that?" the blond asked guardedly.

"I could never hold you…hug you…and comfort you the way you deserved. I wasn't able to. But now…I can show you how much I love you," she finished.

It all happened so quickly. And Joey wasn't even sure if what was currently happening was real or not. Yubel was kissing him—quite fiercely—using Seto's body! This was wrong!

He pushed her away as firmly as he could, breaking their contact. "Yubel, no. We can't do this."

The expression on her face was pained. "Why? I love you. I want to feel the happiness, the pleasure, and the love you feel when you're with _him_."

Joey _really _didn't like where this was going. "Yubel, I don't love you the way I love Seto. It's different."

"But why does it have to be? You can let me love you, can't you? I'm in Seto's body, so it will be like you're with him," argued Yubel. She was starting to panic.

"No. I'm sorry, but no," Joey repeated more forcefully.

Yubel lunged at him, pinning him to the bed, his wrists held tightly above his head in her vicious grip. "I'm going to love you like _he _does," she insisted, tears in her eyes. "I can make you forget when it's over if that's what you really want. I want to love you so much."

Joey was frozen stiff. Fear had made its way onto his face, but Yubel didn't seem to notice; she was too wrapped up in her own over-stimulated emotions to realize this. "Yubel, please let me go."

Tightening her grip, Yubel moved one hand away from his wrists and worked her way down to the hem of Joey's overlarge t-shirt. She yanked it upward some, exposing the blond's naked lower half, disregarding Joey's sudden cries.

She traced her hand over Joey's well-toned abdomen while he struggled beneath her before her hand found its way down to the blond's limp shaft. Taking it in her hand, she experimentally started stroking it up and down…and eventually, it started to harden.

Joey was starting to hyperventilate. No matter what he said or how much he struggled, Yubel seemed oblivious to his reaction. Tears were now running down his face. _This can't be happening!_ Joey thought hysterically. _Yubel's going to rape me using Seto's body!_

When Yubel had deemed that stroking Joey was enough, she furthered her exploration by carefully rubbing the outside of Joey's entrance. This whole experience was something new to her, but she'd seen enough in the world to guess what she was to do next. She was about to stick a finger inside him when pain suddenly shot through her heart.

Her head shot up and she finally _looked _at Joey for the first time. It wasn't pleasure on his face; it was pain. And _she _was the one causing it.

Yubel's body stiffened. This wasn't right. What she was doing wasn't right. She'd only meant to show Joey how much she loved him, but instead, she'd hurt him. She didn't want to hurt him.

Crying silently to herself, she immediately left Seto's body and gradually disappeared.

As soon as Joey felt Seto's body go limp, he pushed him off himself and bolted for the bathroom, collapsing on the floor and crying as quietly as he could.

* * *

Seto woke with a start. He placed a hand to his aching head as he slowly sat up. What the hell had happened? And why had he been laying on the bed so…awkwardly?

Glancing around the room, he noticed that his Puppy wasn't there, so he made his way into the bathroom to freshen himself up but stopped almost instantly.

"Puppy?"

Joey was currently sitting on the floor, his knees brought up to his chin with his t-shirt stretched over his legs. And…there were slight bruises on his wrists.

"Puppy?" Seto tried again, sitting on his knees next to the blond, but he still didn't move. Upon closer inspection, he realized that Joey's eyes were no longer his own, but Yubel's. And it seemed like he was just…staring off into space.

Seto didn't know what to do, so he just sat there and waited until Joey snapped out of it. And eventually, he did. A few minutes later his eyes were back to normal.

The brunet reached out and placed one hand on Joey' shoulder, making him flinch.

"Seto?" he gasped, a hurt look instantly making its way onto his face.

"What are you doing sitting here on these cold tiles? You're going to get sick. And…where did these bruises come from?"

Joey responded by wrapping his arms around his legs, burying his face in his knees. "I had a talk with Yubel. Everything's fine now. You don't need to worry."

Seto frowned. "What happened to your wrists? Those bruises weren't there last night."

And still, Joey didn't answer. Sighing, the brunet got up and made to lift the quiet blond. Bad idea.

"No! Let me go!" Joey shrieked, pushing Seto away from him.

"What the hell is your problem?" the brunet snapped. "You won't tell me what the fuck is going on! And when I try to help you out, you shove me away! If that's how it's going to be, then fine! I'm leaving!"

Spinning on his heel, Seto strode out of the bathroom, but he stopped when he heard Joey crying. But there were words accompanied by those tears.

"It didn't work, Yubel," he heard Joey whisper. "The body remembers. The body _always _remembers. You can't make the memory go away. Because now, whenever Seto touches me, my body remembers and the memory comes back. It comes back! Why is it coming back?"

There was a moment's silence before Joey began talking again.

"I know you didn't mean to hurt me, Yubel…and I know it wasn't Seto who did it…but I'm afraid now. Why am I so afraid?" the blond continued.

By this time, Seto had made his way back into the bathroom. And the sight before him truly broke his heart.

"Puppy, I didn't mean to yell at you before. I just want you to tell me what's going on. I can't help you if you don't tell me. I hate seeing you like this," Seto implored.

Joey's head shot up and he stared at Seto. Should he tell Seto what happened? If he did, how would he respond? And why was he reacting to Seto this way? It hadn't been Seto who'd hurt him. It had been Yubel.

"Puppy, please tell me," Seto begged.

"Y-Yubel…she…she took over your body this morning," Joey let out in one breath.

"What?" Seto replied curtly. "Are you telling me that Yubel possessed me or something?"

"Yes," said the blond, tears forming in his eyes again. "She wanted…to tell me that she loved me…and that…she wanted to show me that she loved me…the way…you do."

"The way I do?" Seto echoed. Then it sank in. "Are you telling me that bitch used me to have sex with you?"

"She…didn't get…that far."

"How far did she get?" Seto was glaring full force now.

"Yubel…kissed me and she…sh-she _touched_ me," Joey explained, avoiding eye contact.

To Seto, the way Joey said the word 'touched' gave it all away. Yubel had tried—but failed—to be intimate with Joey using _his _body. No wonder his Puppy was distraught; he probably felt like he was going to hurt him like Yubel had.

"Did she do anything _more _than that?"

Joey turned his eyes to Seto. "What do you mean?"

"Did she…penetrate you?" Seto swore that if Joey said yes, he would blow a fuse.

"No," Joey replied. "She felt…my pain before she got any further and stopped."

"I want Yubel gone," Seto said suddenly. "I want her _far _away from here."

"Seto, you don't understand. This may be hard for you to accept, but it's not…Yubel…she doesn't know what you and I do. Her mind is like a child's. She accepts what she sees and doesn't question what may cause it. Her view of love is misconstrued. Yubel thought that loving someone meant you have to show it in…an intimate way."

"She could have raped you!"

"But she didn't! Yubel realized what she did was wrong and she tried to wipe the memory from me. However, as soon as you touched me…the memory came back. And that's never happened before."

"What are you getting at?"

"Yubel's been with me for a _long _time, Seto. She was always there when…my father beat me. And when there were times something too painful to bear happened, she would take those memories away. But being touched by my father again never brought those memories back."

"That still doesn't explain why she shouldn't leave."

Joey sighed. Seto wasn't going to like this. "I can't just send her away. Yubel is bound to me; her soul is somehow bound to mine. She feels what I feel. That's why she stopped. Because she felt my fear and pain. Yubel would never intentionally harm me in any way. She's always been my guardian. I…I need her. I don't know what will happen to us if we're separated."

"But she almost raped you," Seto declared desperately. "How can you bear the thought of her staying here…with you _and _Jaden? What if she tries something like this again?"

"Seto, it's not like her to—" Joey's eyes widened. That was right. It _wasn't _like Yubel to do something like this. So then what made her do it?

"Puppy?"

"Something's not right. Yubel wouldn't just do something like that. It's not like her. Something…or _someone_…has planted a little seed," said Joey mysteriously as he got to his feet. He turned and stared at Seto. What he was about to demand strongly defied what his instincts were telling him. But what if those instincts were false? He had to be strong if he was ever going to find out what had made Yubel do what she did…and why he could still remember what happened. "Kiss me."

"What?" the brunet balked. "But a moment ago you wouldn't even let me touch you."

"I know. I want you to kiss me. No matter what happens, or what I do, I need you to keep on kissing me."

"But—"

Seto was soon interrupted by Joey kissing him. But should he actually be doing this? Especially after what had happened to him?

Before Joey knew it, the memory was back, and he wanted with all his might to pull away, but he wouldn't. He _had_ to stand firm. He _had _to see. And the more he kissed Seto, the stronger and more graphic the memory became.

But then there was a flash of something. Joey hadn't noticed that in his memory of the incident from before. He temporarily broke the kiss and started kissing Seto again. He needed to view his memory one more time, no matter how much it hurt.

There! Joey saw it! Or rather, him! It was Brron again. He'd been watching them. So it was Brron's dark influence that was tainting Yubel and his mind.

Joey pulled away from Seto again and pushed him away. He knew what he had to do now. Light always conquered the darkness.

"Aoi," the blond called, and soon, the Duel Spirit of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon appeared. "Strike me…with your White Lightning attack."

"Joey! What're you—"

But it was too late. A bright burst of light flashed throughout the bathroom…including Joey, dispelling some form of darkness from his body. The attack seemed to strengthen at this point, and when it did, the darkness vanished.

The light soon disappeared. Joey then placed a hand to his chest, feeling himself go weak, but a pair of strong arms caught him.

"What the fuck were you thinking?" Seto hissed, cradling Joey in his arms.

"Brron's up to something," Joey gasped. His breathing had become heavy. "But I don't understand. If he wants Jaden…why is he coming after me?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I think Brron somehow put the idea in Yubel's head to do what she did. But when she didn't follow through, he prevented her ability to make me forget. Why?"

Suddenly, Jaden's words came back to haunt him. _"When Papa leaves, Aoi goes with him, and that means the monster will come get me."_ Those had been Jaden's exact words. Was Brron trying to get him to drive Seto away so that he could take Jaden? If that were the case…then whenever Seto left, Brron had the opportunity to snatch him.

"Seto," Joey started, feeling incredibly fearful. "You can't leave us."

The brunet gave him a confused look. Apparently his Puppy had come up with an explanation for what was going on without choosing to inform him. "You're going to have to explain to me what you mean."

"I think…Brron…the monster Jaden kept talking about…was trying to get me to drive you away. Because if you're away, he'll have the power to get Jaden…so you can't leave us."

Seto wasn't sure he understood completely the entire situation at hand. And what Joey was demanding was nearly impossible. "Puppy, I think you might be jumping to conclusions. Nothing happened when we went out on our date yesterday. And, as much as I would love to be with you and Jaden all the time, it won't work. I have responsibilities at Kaiba Corp. that need seeing to; I have to work."

The blond crossed his arms, still feeling uneasy. He didn't like this feeling. He didn't like it one bit.

All this talk about Yubel and Brron was starting to get to Seto. He needed some time—no, some space—for himself. He needed to process everything that had just happened in order to assess the situation. It was the only way he could make sense of everything. And Joey needed a break, too.

"Puppy, I'm going to go out for a bit," Seto announced.

Joey's head snapped up and his eyes widened. "What? But after what happened—"

"Joey," Seto said sternly, placing his hands on his shoulders. He was pleased when the blond showed no signs of flinching. "I think you need to rest for a bit. Jaden can stay in our room with you while you relax. Serenity and Mokuba will be back home shortly since they spent the night at a friend's yesterday. I'm just going to go for a short walk to clear my head…then I'll come back."

"Seto, please don't go."

"Everything's going to be fine, Puppy. You'll see. I'll be back before you know it," he consoled him.

Joey begged him not to go, but Seto soon got dressed and left anyway.

* * *

Seto hurriedly made his way out of the mansion and as soon as he was outside, he sat down near the front gate. It had felt so suffocating inside.

What he needed right now was a little space so that he could think. He had to figure out something, but just what that something was, he didn't know.

* * *

Joey couldn't believe he'd left. After all he'd said—

Well, he wasn't going to stand for it. He was going to get Jaden and go after him. Quickly throwing on some clothes, he did just that.

Sprinting out of the room, the blond went into the one next to theirs. Jaden was sitting on his bed, his deck gripped tightly in his tiny hands.

"Jaden, I need you to come with me. We need to go after Seto," Joey announced, picking the small boy up in his arms. He was just about to go for the door when it suddenly slammed shut. A familiar witch-like cackle sounded in the room.

It was too late. Brron was already here.

* * *

"Seto? What're you doing out here?" Mokuba called. He and Serenity had finally come back home. And although it was unusual for them to come home close to midday after a sleepover, it was just a bit more unusual to see Seto just…sitting outside the front of the mansion.

The brunet raised his head and looked at the two of them and sighed. "I…just needed some time to think. Something happened this morning. It was…too much information, too fast. I needed some space in order to sort it all out."

"Where are Joey and Jaden?" inquired Serenity.

"They're inside," answered Seto, rising from his sitting position. _And maybe I shouldn't have left them alone. Joey did seem pretty scared._

"Wow, it sure got cold all of a sudden," said Mokuba.

Serenity started rubbing her arms. "Yeah. It was pretty warm just a minute ago."

Seto looked back at the mansion. Something didn't seem right about it. "Let's get back inside."

But as soon as they reached the door, all glass in the mansion exploded. The windows shattered into thousands of pieces. Seto pulled Mokuba and Serenity toward him, covering their heads in a means to protect them from the falling glass.

When everything settled, Seto scrambled for the door. Joey and Jaden were still inside!

* * *

Joey dove behind the bed with Jaden in his arms when the windows burst. He needed to protect Jaden, but alas, as fate would have it, the world seemed to turn against him.

"Give me the boy," demanded Brron, physically appearing in the room.

"I will _never _give him to you," Joey snapped in response.

"Then I'll just have to take him from you." Brron waved his arm. An unseen force compelled Joey to release Jaden. Even though he tried with all his might to continue holding Jaden, he couldn't. Brron's power was just too strong.

Joey soon found himself paralyzed and all he could do was watch as Brron picked up a sobbing Jaden.

"Daddy!" Jaden cried. "Daddy!"

"Jaden!" Joey gasped.

"The boy is mine now," said Brron, cackling once more. And then the darkness—always the darkness—enshrouded the two of them and they disappeared…leaving Joey all alone.

* * *

Seto finally managed to get the door open, and when he did, he bolted up the stairs. He threw open the door to their bedroom, but Joey and Jaden were nowhere to be seen. The brunet left and went into Jaden's room next, and relief filled him when he saw Joey.

"Puppy!" he started, racing over to the blond.

"Stay away from me!" Joey screamed, slapping the brunet in the face with all his might. "This is all _your _fault! I told you not to leave! I _begged _you not to leave! Now Brron has Jaden! He took him to Dark World! He took…my…little Jaden…my baby…" Joey collapsed to the floor, despairing sobs wracking his body.

Seto felt his body clamp up. Jaden was gone? He couldn't be gone. Their Jaden couldn't be gone.

"We'll…get him back, Joey." The brunet needed to be strong…for the both of them. "I promise you we'll get him back."

"You'll do no such thing!" Joey snapped, standing up as he glared at Seto. His eyes had changed to Yubel's, but this time…they seemed to glow. "I'm getting Jaden on my own. You weren't here when we needed you most, so why should you bother helping now?"

"Joey, I love you! I love both you and Jaden!" Seto protested.

"I don't think I can believe that anymore," said Joey as he bit back a sob. "If you loved us, you would have stayed."

"But I _do _love you!" he argued back, reaching out for Joey, but his hands seemed to slip right through him. The blond was…transparent.

"Goodbye, Seto," Joey said finally as he disappeared, consumed by the same darkness that had taken Brron and Jaden.

And then he was gone.

Seto stared at the now vacant spot Joey had been. Both of them were gone. Jaden and Joey were gone. And he couldn't do anything to stop it! He couldn't get them back! He didn't even know where—

Dark World. Joey had mentioned that Brron took Jaden to Dark World. But where _was _that?

If Seto had any intention of getting his family back, he was going to need help. And the one and only person he knew that could help him—the one and only person who could see the Duel Spirits, too—was none other than…Bakura.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	15. 3rd Sunday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 15 – Sunday**

Brron wandered the halls of his stronghold, intent on finding a way to get the small boy, Jaden, to release the power he had buried deep within. But seeing as how he had yet to figure out a way to tap into that power, a visit to Gren—the tactician of Dark World—was in order.

At least Gren was one of his servants that he could count on. With Brron being the Mad King of Dark World, he had to at least have _one _intelligent officer.

"Gren!" the Mad King snapped as he entered the room at the end of the hall.

"Yes, my lord," Gren replied, bowing his head slightly.

"Do you have any new information on the Super Polymerization card I wish to possess?"

"A bit, my lord. To start out, I know that you want to create this new card in order to fuse all of the dimensions into one, in which someone like yourself would rule with an iron fist. But in order to create it, many sacrifices must be made, especially those of duelists. They will fuel the power of the creation of Super Polymerization most efficiently," stated Gren.

"And what of the boy? How do I unleash his power?" inquired Brron, clenching his fist.

"Jaden has a very unique power, indeed. He is the reincarnation of the Prince from long ago who once lived in Neo Space, destined to one day become the Supreme King. The darkness residing inside the boy is far greater than anything you can imagine. But it is this power—this true, ironclad evil—that will get you what you want. If you are able to make this boy give into the evil and accept the Supreme King, he will crush nearly everyone in his path in order to complete the Super Polymerization card. And being so young, he'd follow your orders without question. Children are quite impressionable."

"But how do I make him _become _the Supreme King? Do I beat him until he breaks?"

"No! Not at all! Jaden must tap into his negativity…his anger. It is _emotional _warfare you must use in order to get what you want from him," explained Gren.

Brron crossed his arms and stared at the tactician unnervingly. "The best way to make him unleash his anger…is to make him especially angry about something. Or _someone_. Scarr sent word that the boy's father, Joey, has made his way into our realm. Apparently he's searching for the boy."

"If you have Scarr fetch him, you can use this Joey to break Jaden's mind, freeing the darkness within," suggested Gren.

Brron grinned evilly, fully enjoying the idea of torturing that menacing blond in front of his own son. It would be like killing two birds with one stone. He'd be able to unleash the Supreme King within Jaden while breaking the spirit and body of Joey. It was perfect.

Rounding on his heel, the Mad King stormed back down the halls of the stronghold. A quick meeting with Scarr, Scout of Dark World, would be all that he needed in order to set his plan into motion, and what a plan it was, indeed.

* * *

Joey tiredly lowered himself onto the ground next to the decaying ruins of what used to be a small house. The Duel Disk he'd acquired, accompanied with a deck he could not access, seemed to get heavier and heavier the more he traveled. Dark World had almost been what he'd expected, but he had to admit, he'd anticipated a bit more…life.

"Maybe you should rest. You've been walking for hours."

The blond turned to look at Yubel. She stood next to him, her arms crossed as her eyes looked over him worriedly. This had taken some getting used to as well. Now that they were in Dark World, Yubel was real and no longer the transparent Duel Spirit from before.

"I'm fine. I'll just rest for a few minutes and then we'll be on our way again. I need to find Jaden," Joey insisted.

Yubel frowned. "Perhaps you should have let some of your friends come with you…especially Seto."

Joey huffed in frustration and hurt. "Why? It's not like he cared. He left us, remember?"

"I think you've made a terrible mistake. He wanted to help you find Jaden," Yubel persisted. "How is it that you can readily believe that I was tainted by Brron's dark influence and ignore the fact that Seto might have been as well? Did you even consider that it was Brron that tempted Seto to leave?"

Actually, the blond _had _thought of that. But he wouldn't admit that the only reason he'd said what he'd said to the brunet was so that he could venture to Dark World alone. He _knew_ Seto wanted to help him. He _knew _Seto loved him. But he couldn't risk putting Seto's or any of his other friends' lives in jeopardy. Even if it meant leading Yubel to believe that what he'd said, he meant.

Rising to his feet, the familiar cry of his Red-Eyes Black Dragon—Akai—sounded. Circling the air a few times, Akai eventually descended, although he wasn't the very large dragon Joey had come to know. Apparently, in Dark Work, Akai could alter his size. And right now, he was about the size of a parrot.

"I checked out the surrounding areas," said Akai as he landed clumsily on Joey's shoulder. "There's a stronghold up ahead, but I haven't seen any movement whatsoever. I'm beginning to think we might be in the wrong dimension. Are you sure it's Dark World that Brron took Jaden to?"

"I'm sure!" Joey snapped. Brron _had_ to have taken him here. Otherwise…all would have been for naught.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we have here." The hoarse voice made Joey jump. Quickly turning around, he came face to face with…a creepy, red-like creature. Taking a hesitant step back, the creature leapt from the ledge of the ruin, landing successfully on all fours before righting himself.

"Wh-Who're you?" Joey asked, cursing himself for the stutter, but he glared at the new presence regardless.

"Me? They call me, Scarr. But you don't have to worry about making any introductions. I know who _you _are," Scarr answered.

Joey felt his mouth go dry. How did Scarr know who he was? Unless—

"Ah! Get this off me!" screeched Yubel, who was currently clawing at the net that had been cast over her. But the more she struggled, the tighter the net seemed to get.

"Yubel!" Akai cried, flying to her rescue; however, another net suddenly ensnared the small dragon.

"What are you doing? Let them go!" Joey exclaimed, racing over to his two friends in a means to set them free.

Scarr, on the other hand, had other plans. Lunging at Joey, he grabbed him around the waist and threw him over his shoulder, promptly knocking the blond out in the process.

"Make sure you take those two to the dungeon," Scarr ordered the pair of Whiptail Crow soldiers who'd suddenly appeared. "I'll take this one to Brron." The Whiptail Crows took flight, carrying their prisoners off to the stronghold with ease.

Glancing at the unconscious blond, Scarr smirked. This one was feisty. Hopefully Brron would allow him the pleasure of breaking _this _prisoner. The livelier they were, the more fun they were break.

* * *

Seto sat with his face buried in his hands. It was mid-afternoon and Bakura was _still _working on a way to open—what he deemed as—the portal to Dark World. The former thief had said he was close, but close wasn't good enough for the brunet.

After Jaden and Joey had disappeared yesterday, Seto had run all the way to the Game Shop. And he'd been in luck when he'd arrived; everyone was there. As he explained the situation, mostly everyone went back with him to the mansion. But not before he entrusted Tea with looking after Serenity and Solomon with looking after Mokuba. Seto just couldn't handle taking care of them right now.

So here he was, waiting tirelessly for Bakura to come up with a solution. He swore that if he had to wait any longer, he was going to have a mental breakdown. Seto was worried sick about Jaden's and Joey's welfare.

"Kaiba! He did it! Bakura did it!" Yugi cried, trying to get the brunet's attention.

Seto bolted to his feet, making his way into the living room where Bakura and the others had been.

"I think I know how to get us there," Bakura announced upon Seto's arrival.

The brunet paused. "Us?"

"Me, Marik, and Yami are coming with you," replied Bakura. "You have little to no experience dealing with Duel Spirits, let alone other dimensions. And you forget…we care about Joey just as much as you do…as well as the little tyke."

Seto didn't have the energy to argue, so he gave into Bakura's request. "So what do we do?"

"Well, you said that Joey had fused with Yubel and that's when he disappeared. I'm thinking that if we do the same with our own Duel Spirits, we'll be able to travel to Dark World," explained Bakura.

"How do we do that? And how do we even open up a…a portal to get there?" inquired the brunet.

"I'm one step ahead of you. The only reason Joey was able to traverse through a portal into Dark World was due to Brron already having opened one. Joey most likely fused with Yubel in the same area. This burst of power probably reopened the already weak barrier between our dimensions. If we do the same, we should be able to get there," Bakura continued.

"Let's do it," Seto stated, briskly turning on his heel. He was already heading for Jaden's room, not really caring if the others were following him or not. But as soon as he reached the small bedroom, he noticed that Bakura, Marik, and Yami were no more than two steps behind him.

When they entered the room, they noticed that the air seemed to feel…heavier than normal. It was darker…colder.

"What happens now, oh powerful Thief King?" Marik mocked.

Bakura glared at him, but suddenly his eyes widened and a grin was on his face. "I never thought that Ojama Yellow would actually be your Duel Spirit."

"Huh?" Marik turned to see where he was looking and nearly fell over. Ojama was now dancing in his face. "Wait! Why can I see him? I could never see him before!"

"The energy in this room has changed," observed Yami. "It's given the Duel Spirits the ability to be visible to everyone. Well, hello." The former pharaoh greeted the Winged Kuriboh that suddenly graced his presence. It seemed this was his Duel Spirit.

Seto suddenly felt something nudge his arm. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Aoi, his Blue-Eyes White Dragon. "We'll find them," Aoi assured him.

"I hope so," replied Seto.

"Where's _your_ Duel Spirit?" inquired Marik while he tried to swat Ojama Yellow away.

"Behind you," Bakura quipped.

Marik looked behind him, this time actually falling over when he caught sight of a scythe. Bakura's Duel Spirit was Spirit Reaper.

"Now what do we do?" Seto asked, stroking Aoi's head.

"Now you're going to relax and open your mind. Feel the presence of your Duel Spirit; they'll take the rest from there," informed Bakura.

Taking a deep breath, the four of them closed their eyes while trying to relax. A few minutes passed by before any of them started to sense anything, and when they did, it was quite an enlightening experience.

Seto's mind suddenly cleared and he could feel Aoi. He could feel his heartbeat and sense his mind. Emotions swirled within him, and most felt comforting…reassuring. And when he opened his eyes, the brunet realized the others had done the same.

"It's time," Bakura announced in a dual voice, pointing to a dark space in front of them that seemed to appear out of nowhere. "We go through there."

Steeling himself, Seto stepped into the dark portal, Bakura, Marik, and Yami following suit. A sucking sensation pulled at their bodies and it felt like they were spinning out of control. But soon that feeling disappeared…and it was replaced by falling.

"Shit!" Seto hissed, bracing himself for the impact. Squeezing his eyes shut, he prepared himself for the worst. But it never came. Instead, he'd hit something other than the hard ground below him. It was still hard, but warm. Tentatively opening his eyes, his vision saw nothing but white. Raising his head some, he realized he'd landed on Aoi.

"Thanks for catching me," said Seto as he climbed off his dragon.

"You're welcome, Master."

"That was pleasant," grumbled Bakura, rubbing his backside.

"Well, at least the stupid _pharaoh_ didn't land on you!" stated Marik, staring ominously at Yami.

"That wasn't my fault!" Yami protested.

"Will you three shut up!" Seto snapped, running his left hand through his hair. But then he paused. What was on his arm?

"You're wearing a Duel Disk!" announced Marik, pointing at Seto.

"We're _all _wearing Duel Disks, you idiot," Yami replied, inspecting his own. Not only did they have Duel Disks, but decks as well. Yami attempted to pull out his deck to look at the cards, but the Duel Disk prevented him from doing so. "Well, that's odd."

"Which way do you suppose we go?" asked Marik, looking at their barren surroundings.

"This way," indicated Aoi as he started moving north.

"And how do you know that?" asked Seto, raising an eyebrow.

"Because I believe these footprints belong to Joey," Aoi replied, nodding his head toward the marks on the ground. "If we follow these, we may find him."

"Wouldn't Akai be with him, too? What if he decided to hitch a ride?"

"I highly doubt that. They wouldn't want to draw attention to themselves…especially if they're on a rescue mission," answered Aoi.

"Speaking of which," started Seto, "don't you think _you'll _draw attention? No offense, but you're big and…white."

"What he means is, you stand out," added Bakura.

"I _know _what he means," snapped Aoi. "And I can fix that."

Seto was about to asked what he meant when Aoi suddenly started shrinking in size. And he just kept on shrinking until he was small enough to sit on the brunet's shoulder.

"Does this suffice?" asked the now petite dragon.

"It does," Seto replied.

"Then let's go!" ordered Bakura, leading the way through Dark World.

* * *

Joey found himself being shaken away. Quite roughly, in fact. Opening his eyes, he shut them almost immediately when a hand gripped his hair, yanking his head back.

"It's so good of you to join us."

The blond knew _that _voice. His eyes opened again, his vision clearing as they focused on Brron. "You." Joey made to grab him, but he soon discovered that he'd been…restrained. The blond then took note of just what his situation was.

He looked to be in a dungeon of some sort. His hands were shackled above his head, Duel Disk missing, with the chain connected to the middle of the ceiling. As his gaze trailed the course of the chain, he saw that it was wound around a wheel of some sort, probably as a means to adjust the length. It would explain why his toes barely grazed the floor. Now that he considered it, he realized that his shoes and socks had been removed as well.

With as much energy as he could muster, Joey kicked Brron as hard as he could in the abdomen. "Let me go, you fucking bastard! Where's Jaden?" he demanded.

Brron righted himself and grabbed Joey by the shirt, pulling the blond against. "A bastard I am not, but fucking," he said, trailing his other hand down Joey's chest, "I just might." With that, he ripped the shirt from the blond's torso, leaving him exposed.

Joey gasped when the freezing air hit his body, trying to stifle the panic that seized him. But it took over anyway when he felt Brron tugging on his pants, tearing them away along with his boxers. Now, the blond was completely exposed, cold, and vulnerable.

"You do look rather attractive…even if you are a human," said Brron, circling Joey as if he were a predator stalking his prey, one of his long nails tracing the blond's waist.

Collecting himself as best as he could, Joey kicked at Brron again, but this time, he missed.

"You _are _quite feisty, aren't you? Well, we'll soon put an end to that. Let's see how you like freezing all night. Scarr!" Brron's Scout of Dark World appeared, carrying a large bucket. "Let's wash away some of this liveliness."

"With pleasure," said Scarr, tossing the bucket of ice water all over Joey. But he wasn't done yet.

Joey gasped for air time and time again as bucket after bucket was thrown on him, dousing him thoroughly. If he thought he's been cold before, he was near getting frostbite now.

"That should do for now," cackled Brron as he watched the trembling blond.

Teeth chattering, Joey said, "I-Is th-that the b-best y-you've got?"

"Don't worry. We'll have more fun tomorrow. I'd rather have you worn out before we get to the good stuff," said Brron. "Oh! And did I mention you'd have a guest with you tonight? Scarr, if you please."

Joey's eyes followed the path Scarr had taken, and when he returned, the blond's heart wrenched. Scarr had Jaden! He had Jaden in a small cage! He was caged up like some kind of animal! And when Scarr placed Jaden in front on him, Joey finally realized what Brron had meant.

He was going to make Jaden watch everything he did to him. Joey didn't know which was worse, enduring whatever torture was coming his way or knowing that Jaden would be there to see it all. He wanted to cry. He wanted to cry so badly, but he couldn't…because then Jaden would see.

"Such a touching reunion," mocked Brron, walking over toward the wall behind him. He pulled a small lever which raised a wooden shutter leading to the outside. An icy breeze swept throughout the dungeon that even made Brron shiver.

Joey was going to have to be like this all night? He shut his eyes, a tear escaping one of them. There was no way he could survive the night. Not like this.

"Make sure he stays awake," Brron instructed Scarr. "I'll return in the morning."

After Brron left, Scarr sat himself on a chair near the end of the dungeon, _far _away from the window. It looked like it was going to be one hell of a long night.

Joey shivered, unable to quell it any longer. Just what was Brron aiming for in making Jaden watch him suffer? Secretly, he wished he never had to find out, hoping desperately that he would just lose consciousness. It would do well for both him and Jaden.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	16. 3rd Monday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 16 – Monday**

_Crash!_

Brron readied himself to throw another glass at the wall but paused. Why take his anger out on inanimate objects when he had a prisoner just waiting to take its place? Warming up to the idea, the Mad King proceeded down to the dungeons once again.

Last night had been a complete and utter failure. According to Gren, humans had fairly fragile bodies, and enduring the entire night as Brron had intended for Joey would have probably killed him. And he couldn't unleash the Supreme King if his tool were dead.

But there were other, more productive ways of exacting out torture. And that's just what he intended to do.

* * *

Renge, Gatekeeper of Dark World, eyed the human strangers guardedly. He had heard that Brron had taken a human prisoner, but had passed it off as pure speculation; however, seeing these four mortals traveling through his territory verified that conjecture.

Stepping back into the shadows, Renge decided that he'd welcome his new guests in the traditional way of Dark World.

With a duel.

* * *

"Are you _sure _you don't see anything?" groaned Marik. He was getting very bored with wandering aimlessly throughout a deserted landscape. He'd give just about anything for some action.

Aoi snarled at him from the sky. "I don't see a thing. Joey's tracks end here," he said, landing next to Seto. "It's as if he just…disappeared."

"Maybe not," said Bakura, inspecting the surrounding area. If he didn't know any better, he'd have said there had been a bit of a struggle.

"What do you mean?" inquired Seto, his patience thinning.

"I think…someone may have taken him," explained Bakura. "Joey's tracks may be gone, but there's another set over here. And it leads that way," he said, pointing toward a large structure of some sort in the distance.

"That?" exclaimed Aoi. "I haven't spotted any movement in that place. It's an old stronghold. I doubt anyone's there."

"But it might just be our best shot," argued Yami. "If that's where these tracks lead, we should head there."

"Or _maybe _you should stay right here," a new voice called out.

The others spun in the direction of the new arrival. And if the voice didn't have them quaking in their boots, the newcomer's presence sure did.

"The name's Renge. I'm the Gatekeeper of Dark World. But, mostly everyone calls me Iron Wall Renge because no one can break through my incredible defenses," gloated Renge, clenching his fists and pounding on his chest. "So if you want to get to the stronghold…you'll have to get through me."

"Oh, please! Do you actually think you scare us?" questioned Bakura, his eyebrow raised.

Renge snickered. "You should be very afraid. Now, who's up first?" he asked, raising his left arm in the air. They noticed he was also wearing a Duel Disk…and it seemed to activate.

"I will," said Marik, mimicking Renge's actions. His Duel Disk activated as well.

"Are you insane?" hissed Yami. "You can't duel him! You don't even know what's in your deck!"

"I don't care!" Marik snapped. "If our only way out of here is through a duel, then I'll do it gladly."

"That's the spirit," cackled Renge. "I'll have fun slaughtering you yet. Do you know what happens when you lose?"

"Seeing as how I'm going to win, I won't need to worry about that," replied Marik.

Renge let out a roar.

"Duel!" they both shouted. Their Life Points were set at 4000 each.

"I'll go first," said Marik. "I summon Soul Tiger (ATK 0 / DEF 2100) in defense mode and end my turn."

"That's it? Well, I'll show you how it's done. I activate Polymerization to fuse my Lord of Dragons with Divine Dragon Ragnarok to Fusion Summon King Dragun (ATK 2400 / DEF 1100) in attack mode. And now I activate King Dragun's effect which allows me to Special Summon my Luster Dragon #2 (ATK 2400 / DEF 1100) in attack mode. Now, I'll attack your Soul Tiger with King Dragun!"

After Soul Tiger was destroyed, Renge attacked Marik directly with Luster Dragon #2. But what Marik didn't expect was actually being hurt by the attack.

"Marik, are you all right?" Yami asked frantically when Marik was laid out on the ground from the attack.

"Peachy," he grumbled as his Life Point hit 1600. Rising to his feet, he drew a card. "I set a monster and end my turn."

"You aren't much of a challenge, are you? Looks like victory will be mine. I summon Luster Dragon (ATK 1900 / DEF 1600) in attack mode. And thanks to my King Dragun's effect, I can also Special Summon my Hyozanryu (ATK 2100 / DEF 2800) in attack mode. I'll attack your face-down monster with King Dragon!" cried Renge.

Marik smirked after his monster was destroyed. "You just activated The Unhappy Maiden's effect! After destroying her in battle, your Battle Phase automatically ends."

Renge snarled at him.

"Now, I summon Spirit of the Breeze (ATK 0 / DEF 1800) in defense mode. And I activate the continuous magic card, The Dark Door. This allows each player to attack only _one _monster per turn," said Marik.

"That shouldn't be a problem for me," snapped Renge. "I attack your Spirit of the Breeze with my King Dragun!"

"I summon Catnipped Kitty (ATK 0 / DEF 500) in defense mode and end my turn," said Marik.

"What a waste of a turn. I attack you Catnipped Kitty with King of Dragun and I set a card."

Marik drew his next card…and an evil smile made its way onto his face. "This duel is over."

"Not yet, it isn't! I activate my face-down, Dust Tornado, which destroys your magic card, The Dark Door!" interrupted Renge.

"That doesn't matter. The duel is still over. I activate the card Painful Choice. By selecting Relinquished, Castle Gate, Thunder Crash, Copycat, and Royal Magical Library from my deck, I can select one card and send it to my hand. The rest go to the Graveyard. And I select Thunder Crash! Now, I'll activate Enchanting Fitting Room. By paying 800 of my Life Points," (800 Life Points left), "I can see the top four cars of my deck and Special Summon any Level 3 or lower Normal Monsters that I pick up. I can therefore Special Summon Ojama Yellow, Ojama Green, and Ojama Black in attack mode (ATK 0 / DEF 1000), while Pot of Green is shuffled back into my deck. Now I activate Ojama Delta Hurricane which destroys all cards on your side of the field!"

"What?" roared Renge.

"Oh, I'm not done yet! I'll also activate Thunder Crash. This destroys your three monsters on the field, inflicting 900 points of damage to your Life Points, bringing you down to 3100 Life Points. I summon Chaos Necromancer (ATK 0 / Def 0) in attack mode!"

"That monster has no attack points! It can't hurt me!"

"That what you think!" Marik growled. "My Chaos Necromancer's attack rises by 300 for every monster in my Graveyard. And since I have eleven monsters in my Graveyard, his attack rises to 3300. And now I attack you directly!"

Renge's eyes widened as Chaos Necromancer attacked him directly. As soon as his Life Points hit zero, however, he started screaming.

"You'll pay for this! Just you wait! You'll pa—"

He was soon cut short…because his body had now changed. It had turned to stone.

"So this is what happens when you lose a duel," mumbled Seto, staring at the rock-solid figure before them.

"And that's not all," said Marik, panting as his Duel Disk went back to normal. "It hurts like a bitch when you're attacked directly. And after the duel…it feels like your body has been drained of energy."

Seto started growing uneasy. Dueling definitely wasn't what it used to be. Here, your life depended on it.

* * *

"Ah!" Joey couldn't take it anymore. Ever since Brron had come back to the dungeon, he'd insisted that Scarr start whipping him. The blond had tried his best not to make a sound, but the longer he held out, the more intense the whipping got.

"And all it took was thirty strikes to your back before you made a sound," mocked Brron. "Ten more ought to do the trick."

Joey gritted his teeth as the whipping intensified. He could already feel the blood running down his marred flesh.

"That's enough," ordered Brron.

The blond couldn't help but let out a pained sigh of relief, but it sounded more like a whimper. Scarr had _finally _stopped whipping him.

"Do the other side, now," smirked the Mad King.

Joey felt his heart slam into his chest when Scarr made his way around him, the whip held precariously in his hands. He eyed the torture device warily. It looked like he was in for another round. Would the pain ever stop?

Scarr struck Joey's chest with the whip viciously, eliciting pain filled screams from him. When the blond's torso was equally as violated as his back, Brron instructed his scout to stop.

"I think that's enough for today," said Brron, glancing at a very terrified looking Jaden. _Let the boy sit and stew over his father's pain. He'll turn eventually. I know he will_, he thought malignantly.

"Yes, my lord," replied Scarr, leaving the dungeon.

Brron slowly approached the gasping blond. "If you think this is bad," he said, roughly running his hand down Joey's bleeding chest, making the blond wince, "just wait until tomorrow. You'll be_begging _for me to end your life. But I won't. I'll keep you alive. I'll drag out your existence until you're nothing more than an empty shell."

Joey let out a quiet sob when Brron finally left. He couldn't take this. The pain was just too much. He didn't know how much more his mind could take.

Raising his head, he accidentally made eye contact with Jaden…and the fear he saw in the small boy's eyes was enough to send him over the edge…or rather…a temporary, yet blissful, oblivion.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	17. 3rd Tuesday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 17 – Tuesday**

Jaden wrapped his arms tightly around his bent knees, the biting cold metal of the cage making him shiver. Soft crying—that wasn't his own—made him want to cover his ears. He didn't want to hear his Daddy cry anymore. He didn't want to see his Daddy in pain anymore.

He knew his Daddy was trying very hard to stay strong, but Brron was merciless when it came to torture. To be honest, Jaden didn't know if his Daddy was even going to make it. He'd become listless—even though he still cried—and he wasn't fighting back anymore.

The small boy didn't know which was worse: watching his Daddy suffer or knowing that he couldn't do anything to stop it.

* * *

"What do you mean I can't torture him?" Brron snapped as he glared at Gren, who cringed slightly.

"My lord, I think you may have misinterpreted me. You may still torture him, but inflicting any further harm to Joey's body is out of the question. If you do so, you just might kill him. He's been deprived of both food and water, and has been in endless physical pain with a lack of proper sleep," Gren clarified.

"These humans are much too fragile. How am I supposed to get what I want if I can't torture him? How am I to make Jaden become the Supreme King now? Because if I actually kill his father in front of him, there is a strong chance that Jaden will _not _unleash his power," growled Brron.

Gren smirked as he approached the Mad King, albeit cautiously. "I said that torturing his body is out of the question. His mind, however, is another story."

The Mad King stared at him for a time, considering this as an option. "I'm listening."

"One of the ones we've captured. Yubel, I believe it was. She has an interesting relationship with your prisoner. I've come to know that they share a very special bond. Their souls are united somehow. And she has quite an ability."

"And that would be?"

"Yubel is able to remove memories from one's mind. She's done it many times with Joey," replied Gren.

"How do you know this? And how does this help me?" questioned Brron, curious.

"Oh, I know all about Yubel's kind and those types of abilities," Gren bragged. "And I know how to counteract them. You see, she may have made Joey forget some very painful memories, but they are still buried deep within his mind. Given the proper…dosage, he might just remember them."

Brron grinned evilly, fully aware of what Gren implied. "And if these memories were so terrible that he purposely wanted them removed…the torture it would give him! The best part is, I'll get to watch," he cackled.

"My lord!" Scarr called, interrupting their conversation. "Something terrible has happened. Renge has lost in a duel! To a human!"

"A human?" Brron hissed. So the blond's friends had decided to follow, had they? Well, he'd put a stop to that at once. "Inform Beiige that we have…guests that need seeing to."

"Yes, my lord," Scarr replied, bowing before heading back out.

_Let's see how these pesky humans fare against my Vanguard of Dark World_, Brron thought to himself. But he had other things to attend to right now rather than worrying about some incompetent mortals.

Beiige would handle things. He always did…and he _always _succeeded.

* * *

"It looks like we've finally made it," observed Yami. He and the others stared at the stronghold nearly one-hundred feet away from them. It was just within their reach.

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's go!" insisted Marik, taking another step closer to the structure. But a loud crack soon halted him. "You guys heard that, too, right?"

"Of course we heard it! We're not deaf!" snapped Bakura.

"Shh!" hushed Yami. "I think…it's coming from…below?"

The earth rumbled beneath them, finally giving way.

"Fucking shit!" Seto shouted as the ground beneath them suddenly disappeared, a large sinkhole in its place. And soon, they found themselves falling into the darkness.

* * *

"Master, wake up?" Aoi called, nudging Seto awake.

Groaning, the brunet picked himself up and dusted off his clothes. "Where the hell are we?"

"My guess is that we've stumbled upon secret caverns underneath the stronghold. Although, whether this is a trap or not remains to be seen," replied the dragon.

"What is with you landing on me?" barked Marik as he shoved Yami off of him. "And how the hell do we get out of here?"

"Maybe we shouldn't," said Bakura.

"What? You just want to _stay _down here?" exclaimed Seto.

"As much as I hate to admit it, I'd have to side with Bakura. It's probably in our best interest if we remain underground. There's a chance that no one knows we're down here and it will give us the advantage if we need to infiltrate the stronghold," replied Yami.

Seto huffed. "You have a point. So, I guess this means we'll be following these caverns. But which way should we go?"

Winged Kuriboh fluttered by them and stopped near one of the caverns, pointing at it.

"Perhaps we should follow him," suggested Yami.

"It couldn't hurt," said Seto.

* * *

Brron entered the dungeon, a small bowl filled with water in his hands. He stepped up to the partially conscious blond and brought the bowl to his lips. Tilting it, he poured the contents into Joey's mouth, which he drank eagerly despite his fatigue.

Tossing the bowl onto the ground when the blond was finished drinking, Brron lifted his prisoner's chin and stared at him. Although his eyes appeared somewhat glazed, there was still a bit of fire in them. And at this, he smirked inwardly.

"Greetings, my pet," Brron cooed snidely, drawing the blond's face closer to his own.

Joey spat in his face, which only earned him a slap in return.

"You'll pay for that. And to think, I was going to be gentle with you," snapped the Mad King as he strode toward the wheel that controlled the length of chain. He turned it a few times until Joey's toes not longer touched the floor.

The blond wriggled, which only caused him to spin until Brron grabbed him around the waist, his grip firm.

"If you wanted to play rough, all you had to do was say so," Brron whispered, yanking the blond down as hard as he could.

Joey felt as if his arms had been ripped from his body, but the popped sound that accompanied the pain let him know that his arms had been dislocated. Gulping as much air as he could, the blond tried to push away the pain. It didn't work.

"Now that I have your attention," started Brron, putting an arm around the blond's waist, "let's have some fun." Brron pulled Joey toward him so that his scarred back now rested against his chest. "I hear that you don't like bad memories very much…and that your friend, Yubel, has made some quite nasty ones go away. Is that true?"

The blond didn't respond. He just continued to concentrate on his breathing.

"No matter. We'll find out soon enough. How would you like to revisit some of those memories, my pet?"

Joey swallowed hard despite the fact his throat hurt.

"And you know what else?" added Brron, tracing the blond's lower back with his other hand. "I'll get to see those very memories with you. But that's not even the best part! Not only will you feel the emotional pain brought about by revisiting these memories, but your body will remember the pain as well. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Dropping his head, Joey tried to brace himself for the inevitable.

"Now, let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

"Are you sure we should be following this hairball?" asked Marik. "I mean, how are we even sure he knows where he's going?"

"I could always lead us," offered Ojama Yellow. "But I'd probably get us lost or something."

"Then just shut up you little piece of snot," quipped Marik.

"Ooh! A pet name! I knew you liked me!" replied Ojama, giving Marik a hug.

"Ew! Get off me! No touching!" Marik shouted, flailing his arms around.

"How about the _both _of you shut up before I kick you down one of those bottomless pits?" Seto snapped, indicating the various holes that led…down.

"Now _that_ sounds like a very good idea. Even if it _is _suggested by a filthy human."

Seto tensed. Great. Another Dark World goonie. "Why don't you show yourself instead of hiding in the dark?"

"Hm…should _you _be my first victim?" the voice continued as the person belonging to it stepped out of the shadows. He was tall, well built but lanky, and wore skeletal looking armor. "But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm Beiige, Vanguard of Dark World. I was…informed of your arrival and instructed to make you feel at home."

"How about I make you feel like a statue?" interceded Bakura, raising his left arm. His Duel Disk activated.

"You want to duel? Fine. We'll duel. But after I'm through with you, I'll rip your friends to shreds," replied Beiige maliciously as he activated his Duel Disk.

"Duel!" they said, their Life Points starting at 4000 each.

"Since you're such a generous host, I'll go first," said Bakura. "I summon Headless Knight (ATK 1450 / DEF 1700) in attack mode and I set one card."

Beiige laughed. "Then I think I'll summon The Snake Hair (ATK 1500 / DEF 1200) in attack mode. And I'll attack your Headless Knight!"

Bakura's Life Points dropped to 3950.

"I've seen children make better moves than that!" the former thief taunted. "I activate my set magic card, Shallow Grave, which allows both players to Special Summon one monster from their Graveyard in defense mode. And seeing as how yours is empty, I'll summon my Headless Knight back to the field. I tribute my Headless Knight to summon my Earl of Demise (ATK 2000 / DEF 700) in attack mode. I'll now attack your Snake Hair!"

His Life Points taking a hit, Beiige growled when they dropped to 3500.

"I summon my Dragon Zombie (ATK 1600 / DEF 0) in attack mode. By paying 800 Life Points," (Beiige's Life Points dropped to 2700), "I can play Magic Burial. This allows me to Special Summon my Snake Hair in attack mode. I activate Polymerization to fuse my Dragon Zombie with Snake Hair to Fusion Summon Great Mammoth of Goldfine (ATK 2200 / DEF 1700) in attack mode. I now set a card and end my turn."

Bakura drew a card, but was soon interrupted by Beiige.

"I activate my trap, Skull Invitation! Whenever a card goes to the Graveyard, the owner of that card will automatically lose 300 Life Points per card," snickered Beiige.

"That makes no difference to me," Bakura replied curtly. "I activate the magic card, Spiritualistic Medium. This allows me to discard my entire hand in order to increase the attack of one of my monsters by 500 for every card I just discarded. And since I discarded four cards, my Earl of Demise's attack raises to 4000."

"But don't forget! By Skull Invitation's effect activates! That means your Life Points decrease by 1200!" cut in Beiige as Bakura's Life Points dropped to 2750.

"I know that you moron! I'll attack you Great Mammoth of Goldfine with my Earl of Demise!"

Beiige's Life Points dropped to 900, and due to the effect of Skull Invitation, he lost an additional 300 Life Points since his monster was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, bringing his Life Points to 600.

"I activate Nightmare's Steelcage! This prevents _every _monster from attacking for two of _your_ turns. Now, I'll set a card and end my turn."

"I'm afraid that was a little too late," Bakura said with a smirk. "I activate Ectoplasmer! When I tribute my Earl of Demise, I can inflict damage to your Life Points equal to half of my monster's original attack. And since my Earl of Demise's original attack was 2000, you lose 1000 Life Points!"

"What? No!" shrieked Beiige, his Life Points dropping to 0. He stared at Bakura, appalled that he'd lost to a human. "No!"

They watched as Beiige turned to stone, the scream still etched on his face.

"Nice work, Bakura," commented Seto.

He nodded. "Let's get moving."

* * *

"So, my pet, are you ready?" inquired Brron, his left arm wrapped around Joey's waist, holding him in place while he raised his other hand. The nail on his pointer finger extended until it was nearly two inches in length, a dark liquid dripping from its tip. "Well?"

"Go…to…hell," Joey wheezed as he tried to steady his breathing. The close proximity of the Mad King's body proved to make that difficult.

"If I go, I'm taking _you _with me. Now, this will only hurt a bit," said Brron, taking his forefinger and moving it toward Joey's lower back. When his nail lined up with the base of the blond's spine, he pushed his nail into him until it was buried deeply inside.

Joey screamed when he felt something sharp penetrate his lower back. His spine seemed to erupt in flames as every nerve in his body writhed in pain.

Brron smirked. The venom had been injected. Now all he had to do was continue administering this treatment to the blond until his brain unlocked the first memory.

It was pure genius for Gren to have come up with such a strategy. By tapping into Joey's spinal cord and injecting his own dark poison, the venom would travel up through the spine and into the blond's brainstem; therefore, the darkness he injected would trigger the dark memory buried deep within.

Joey felt his body go numb. And if it hadn't been for the shackles around his wrists and Brron's arm around his waist, he never would have been able to support himself.

But now, his mind was getting fuzzy…and he no longer had control over what flashed through his mind.

* * *

_Joey's Flashback_

_His Mom had taken his sister away. And now he was all alone. His sister was gone! What was he to do now?_

_Joey wandered along the deserted sidewalk, kicking at invisible objects as he wiped away his tears. It just wasn't fair! Why did his Mom have to take his sister away?_

"_Mew."_

_The small blond raised his head, his bleary eyes looking down the alley to his left. There, in the middle of the ground, sat a small kitten. It was a dark reddish brown with hazel eyes—reminding him a lot of his sister—and looked to be just alone as he was._

"_Hi, little guy," said Joey as he reached out to stroke the kitten. It purred in response, making the blond smile. "You want to come home with me?"_

_The kitten continued purring. Joey took that as a yes and picked up the small kitten._

"_Hey, what's that?" he asked as he stared at what the kitten had obviously been sitting on. It was a Duel Monsters card. Picking it up, he read the name. "Yubel…I guess I'll take you home with me, too," he said, putting the card in his back pocket._

_Feeling much better than before, Joey ran all the way home with his new kitten and card in tow. He couldn't wait to play with them!_

_As soon as he got home, Joey sprinted to his bedroom and placed the kitten on the floor._

"_I'll be right back! I'll get you something to eat!" he exclaimed before running off again. He left his room and nearly collided with his father. "S-Sorry!"_

_His father stared down at the boy, wobbling ever so slightly from the heavy drinking he'd just done. "Watch it," he slurred in response before he walked down the hallway. "What's this?"_

_Joey froze and turned around slowly. "What's what?"_

"_Don't be smart with me!" his father snapped. "What's this?" he inquired again, indicating the kitten that had wandered out into the hallway._

"_I…I found him on my way home. C-Can I keep him? I-I know you said no pets, but I'll take care of him," pleaded Joey._

"_You need to take care of yourself and only yourself. The sooner you learn that, the better," his father responded curtly. He stared at the kitten menacingly. "And now's a good time to start."_

_Joey didn't have a chance to do anything. Before he knew it, his father had kicked the small kitten across the hallway until it smacked hard against the wall. Its limp body crumpled to the floor in a small heap._

"_No!" Joey screamed, racing over to the still kitten, but his father grabbed him by the arm and pulled him away._

"_This if or your own good," snapped his father, picking up the kitten._

"_Dad, what are you doing? No!"_

_His father had stumbled into the living room, tossing the kitten into the fireplace before dousing it in lighter fluid. Lighting a match, he tossed it into the fireplace, the kitten suddenly bursting into flames._

"_No," Joey cried, staring at the poor kitten._

"_That'll teach you," mumbled his father._

"_Mew!"_

_The small blond paled, feeling sick to his stomach. The kitten was still alive! His father was burning the kitten alive!_

_He screamed, covering his ears with his hands, trying desperately to drown out the pain filled cries of the dying kitten._

* * *

Joey gasped when the memory finally ended, but the kitten's shrieks and screams still penetrated his mind. That had been the first time he'd ever witnessed _anything _dying in such a cruel way. At the time, had it not been for Yubel, he would have been traumatized for life.

Brron withdrew his nail from the blond's back, somewhat disappointed by the memory. But it was probably the first of many. "Not exactly what I had expected," he said, releasing Joey from his grip, "but tomorrow is always another day."

The Mad King stepped away from the blond. This little technique he'd pulled drained him of more energy than he'd anticipated. But he'd be better prepared tomorrow.

After Brron left, Joey broke down. He didn't want to revisit _any _of the memories he'd asked Yubel to make…disappear. That's why he'd told her to take them away.

The pain Joey had been feeling before was now back. At least in his upper body, anyway. His lower half just felt numb…tingly. Whether it was from the cold or his body had just finally given into the pain, he didn't know.

He really didn't care. The screams of the dying kitten were all he could think about. He couldn't drown it out. It would _never _go away.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	18. 3rd Wednesday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 18 – Wednesday**

It wasn't enough. Why wasn't it enough? He'd tortured the blond tirelessly, put him through excruciating emotional _and _physical pain, but Jaden still had not tapped into the power of the Supreme King!

Brron glared at the wall as he tried to think of another way to make Jaden turn, but he came up blank. _Well, if today's round of torture doesn't turn the boy_, he thought to himself, _I'll just kill the both of them and be done with it. I can make do without the power of the Supreme King._

Pleased with his decision, he made his way down to the dungeons, a new plan developing in his mind. It was perfect. Whether it would work or not didn't matter. He was going to have fun doing it wither way.

* * *

Yami felt a chill run down his spine as they entered the lowest level of the stronghold. It hadn't looked like it from afar, but this place was more of a giant tower than anything else. And even though the place seemed deserted, Yami couldn't shake the feeling like they were being watched. It unnerved him greatly.

"Does anyone else feel like someone else is here…watching us?" Marik asked, his question echoing everyone's thoughts as his eyes panning the darkened halls.

The others agreed, feeling an overbearing presence that seemed to follow them wherever they went. But for Seto, he couldn't take much more of this _not knowing_.

"If someone's there, show yourself now!" the brunet called out into the darkness. His voice seemed to reverberate throughout the stronghold.

"My, my. Someone's not very patient. It's a wonder you have a family. Although, it seems you haven't been doing a very good job, seeing as how your lover and son are no longer with you," replied Gren, stepping out of the shadows.

"Who are you? And what have you done with Joey and Jaden?" demanded Yami, glaring at the fiend.

"I would be Gren, Tactician of Dark World. And don't fret. Joey and Jaden are being tended to…in the dungeon. Now that I think of it, I'm actually quite fond of humans now. They do give delightful screams when they're being tortured…especially your blond friend," he taunted.

"What have you done to him?" Seto snapped, lunging at Gren, but Marik and Bakura held him back. They didn't know what this…Gren…was even capable of, so it was best not to take any chances.

"You _should _be worried about what I'm going to do to you," answered Gren. "Let's say we have a duel. If I win, I'll take all of you prisoner and you can die together with your blond friend; he won't last much longer anyhow. But if _you _win, all you have to do is reach the top of the tower. Your…_friends _are being kept in a special dungeon up there. Do we have a deal?"

"Deal," said Yami, activating his Duel Disk. He wasn't going to let _anyone _keep him from rescuing his friends.

"No! Let _me _duel him!" said Seto.

"I can't let you that. You've let your emotions get the best of you. You've let Gren's _words _get to you. Until you can calm down and get your emotions under control, I'm dueling him. Is that understood?"

Reluctantly, Seto nodded. Yami was right. If he dueled now, he'd probably lose because he would let his anger and hurt affect his dueling.

Yami looked back at Gren, who'd activated his Duel Disk. "Duel!" they said, their Life Points going to 4000 a piece.

"Since you are in _my _humble abode, I'll go first," announced Gren as he drew a card. "I summon Prickle Fairy (ATK 300 / DEF 2000) in defense mode and end my turn."

"I activate Shield Crush!" said Yami. "This destroys your Prickle Fairy. Now, I summon Steamroid (ATK 1800 / DEF 1800) in attack mode and I attack you directly!"

Even though Gren's Life Points dropped to 2200, he seemed unfazed. "I summon my Pinch Hopper (ATK 1000 / DEF 1200) and activate Multiplication of Ants. By tributing Pinch Hopper, I can Special Summon two Army Ant Tokens (ATK 500 / DEF 500 each). Now, I shall Special Summon Insect Princess (ATK 1900 / DEF 1200) due to Pinch Hopper's effect. And, by activating my Insect Garden, I can give both of my Army Ant Tokens to you."

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Yami.

Gren smirked. "I equip my Insect Princess with Insect Pheromone. Now I can attack both Army Ant Tokens with my Insect Princess!"

Yami's Life Points plummeted to 700. "It'll take more than that to bring _me _down. I change Steamroid to defense mode and summon Submarineroid (ATK 800 / DEF 1800) in attack mode. Due to Submarineroid's effect, I can attack your Life Points directly!"

Gren's Life Points dropped to 1400. He didn't even flinch.

"And due to Submarineroid's other effect, I can change him to defense mode. I set a card and end my turn."

"Not bad for a human," commented Gren. "I summon Magical Longhorn (ATK 600 / DEF 1000) and give control of it to you! And I attack it with my Insect Princess!"

"Not so fast!" interrupted Yami. "I activate my trap card, No Entry! This negates your attack!"

Gren clenched his hand around his cards. "I change my Insect princess to defense mode and discard one card."

Yami drew his next card…and smirked. "This duel ends now! I activate Vehicroid Connection Zone! Fusing Submarineroid, Steamroid, and Drillroid, I summon Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill (ATK 3000 / DEF 2000) in attack mode! Now, I attack your Insect Princess!"

Soon, Gren's Insect Princess was destroyed and his Life Points hit 0.

"Good luck finding your way through the tower," Gren cackled as he slowly started turning to stone. "And if you _do _get lost…just follow the screams!"

"Someone is going to _pay _for this," Seto hissed, his voice deathly low. "And don't worry, Puppy. I'm coming."

* * *

"I have a surprise for you, my pet," Brron announced as he entered the dungeon.

Joey groggily raised his head and stared at the Mad King expectantly.

"I've decided to bring some of your friends along to watch the show," he continued.

The blond, still confused, turned his head when he heard a noise to his left. Scarr had returned, but this time, he wasn't alone. Joey's heart wrenched, humiliation and anger consuming him. The Scout of Dark World was dragging Akai and Yubel into the dungeon.

"Here they are, my lord," said Scarr, giving Akai a kick.

The dragon growled, but seeing as how he was still ensnared in the same net he'd been captured with, that was pretty much all he could do. Akai, however, was his normal size again, but there was one drawback; the net didn't quite stretch to fit his size, so it bit into his flesh most uncomfortably.

Yubel, on the other hand, looked as fatigued and haggard as Joey. Since she could feel everything the blond felt, Yubel had also endured the excruciating pain. But whether she had been witness to the memory Joey had remembered yesterday, the blond didn't know.

"You have quite an audience, today," said Brron. "Leave us, Scarr. I want to be alone with them."

"Yes, my lord," replied the scout before leaving the dungeon, shutting the door behind him with a resounding bang.

Brron approached Joey lazily, making the blond ever so conscious of his subtle movements. When he finally reached him, the Mad King pulled Joey up against his chest. Leaning his head even closer, he gripped the blond's hair and pulled his head back, allowing himself the pleasure of licking the quickening pulsing point on Joey's neck.

"Stop it!" Yubel screeched, tears burning her eyes. "Leave him alone!"

Laughing, Brron released the blond, letting his head drop. "You get worked up over something as minimal as that? I wonder how you'll react once I _really _get started."

Joey squeezed his eyes shut. Jaden having to watch was bad enough. Having Yubel and Akai witness what Brron would do was even worse. He didn't want them to see. He didn't want _anyone _to see.

His body jolted when Brron splayed his hand on his lower abs, resting just above his groin. He felt the Mad King come behind him, his chest now pressed against his back…like yesterday.

"Are you ready, my pet?" asked Brron, inserting his nail into Joey's lower back like he'd done the day before. "I know I am."

The familiar burn erupted through Joey's body, and his mind soon faded into another memory.

* * *

_Joey's Flashback_

_He was in middle school. Seventh grade, to be exact. And he was walking home from school with his cousin, Jenna. She was a year older than Joey was, but they still went to the same school. And since the blond didn't have any friends, Jenna had decided to hang out with him._

"_Do you need any help with your homework?" Jenna asked._

_Joey laughed. "If anyone needs help with their homework, it's you!"_

"_Shut up!"_

_The two of them had been so busy teasing each other that they didn't pay attention to where they were going, or who they were headed toward._

"_Well, well. What are you two squirts doing on our turf?"_

_The two of them froze and stared at the teen standing in front of them, others around the teen's age flanking his sides._

"_We're…just passing through," said Jenna. "We're sorry. We didn't mean to come this way."_

_He seemed to ignore her response. "The name's Hirutani. These are my boys back here and we don't like it when people invade our turf. You know what we do to squirts like you?"_

_When they didn't respond, Hirutani grinned at them lecherously. "We kill them."_

_Joey pushed Jenna behind him. "Run!" he hissed._

_They spun around, hoping to make a break for it. But it was too late. They were surrounded._

"_I don't think so," said Hirutani, grabbing Joey by the back of his shirt and yanking him back._

_The blond turned and elbowed the gang leader in the stomach, breaking his hold on him. When he was free, Joey kicked him in the knee, which promptly knocked Hirutani to the ground._

_The other gang members froze. No one had ever assaulted their leader before. They weren't sure what to do._

"_You're feisty. I like that," said Hirutani, getting up. "I could use a guy like you."_

"_Never," spat Joey._

"_Oh, you'll change your mind soon enough. Boys!" called Hirutani, snapping his fingers. "Get the girl."_

"_No!" Joey cried, racing over to Jenna, but two of the other guys grabbed him, forcing him down onto his knees._

_Jenna had been pinned to the ground, one guy holding down her arms while the other had tossed up her skirt._

"_Leave her alone!" shouted Joey, trying to break free from his captors._

"_I'll let her go…only if you agree to join me," said Hirutani, grabbing a fistful of the blond's hair as he forced Joey to look on._

_Jenna started kicking and screaming when one of the guys pulled down her underwear and started unzipping himself. Joey knew what he intended to do._

"_Fine! I'll do it! I'll join your gang! Just let her go!" Joey pleaded. He couldn't bear the thought of Jenna getting hurt because of him._

"_Excellent!" crowed Hirutani. "Continue, boys!"_

_Suddenly, the guy hovering above Jenna thrust into her. She screamed as he pounded into her over and over again._

"_Stop it! Stop it!" Joey cried. "You said you'd let her go!"_

"_And I intend to keep that promise…but I never said when, did I?" cackled Hirutani._

_Joey struggled against his captors, but three on one was more than he could handle._

_So he was forced to listen…and watch…as his dear cousin Jenna was raped mercilessly by the gang. By the time they were finished with her, she was already dead._

_Hirutani leaned down to Joey, his lips mere inches from his ear. "You don't have anyone but me. You're mine now, you got that?"_

_Joey's mind couldn't function. He…had no family. He had no friends. Anyone he'd ever loved or cared about had been cruelly taken from him. Hirutani was right…the only one he had now…was him._

* * *

Brron pulled himself away from Joey, who was now gasping for air as he struggled to breathe, pain and grief consuming him. He glanced at Jaden, just to see if this reaction had caused him to change his demeanor.

It hadn't.

One more memory. Just one more. And if this didn't do the trick, they would _all _pay dearly.

The Mad King grabbed Joey again, shoving his nail forcefully into the blond's spine.

Joey's breathing slowed some and the pain felt less than it had before. It was almost as if…his body was giving up…dying.

He hoped so when the next memory began.

* * *

_Joey's Flashback_

"_Joey."_

_Said fourteen-year-old looked over his shoulder, only to see Hirutani coming toward him. Averting his eyes, he looked ahead of himself as the gang leader came up behind him._

"_What?" Joey replied with disinterest._

"_Come with me. I have a little…job for you to do."_

_The blond really didn't like the sound of that. And with the look Hirutani was giving him, he wanted to run away and never come back._

_Swallowing his nervousness, he said, "A job? What kind of job?"_

_Hirutani took his hand and cupped the blond's cheek, making him flinch. "I just want to show off my most prized possession, that's all. You don't mind me showing you off, do you?"_

_Joey shut his eyes. Of course Hirutani would say that. He always said that. Even though the blond didn't look like much in comparison to some of the more beefy gang members, he could hold his own._

_And plus, in the eyes of Hirutani, he wasn't too bad looking either. Blond hair, tanned skin, a well-toned and flawless body. He was pure eye candy to most of the gangs in the area. And Hirutani knew it._

"_I don't want to do this anymore," Joey sighed._

"_Hey, look at me." The blond did. "This will be the last time. I promise. After today, everyone will know that you're mine and they'll never have you. Understand?"_

_Despite the fact he didn't want to, Joey agreed anyway. Had he known what was going to happen next, he'd have run._

_Hirutani led him into one of the old abandoned warehouses along the dock and into a small room off to the side of the main part of the building._

"_Take your clothes off," Hirutani directed immediately._

"_What?" Joey gasped, backing away from him._

"_Take…your clothes off. I said I was showing you off, and I intend to do that completely. It'll show the others what they'll never get to have. They lust after you, Joey. You're all they think about. Do you know how many times I've seen them looking at you? And I know what they're thinking," said Hirutani as he inched closer to the blond._

_Joey froze._

"_They're thinking of what you must look like…feel like. You know how many fights have broken out because other gangs want you for themselves? Well, I'm putting all that to rest today. And after everyone's sated…I'll show them that you're mine. All right?"_

_The blond shook his head, staring at Hirutani in shock. He'd never gone this far. Never._

"_Take your clothes off before I do it for you," the gang leader growled warningly._

_Nodding hesitantly, Joey began stripping, fully aware of Hirutani's eyes as they roamed his body wantonly. When he finished, the gang leader draped a shawl over his body and led him back out into the main part of the warehouse where the other gang leaders and members were awaiting their arrival._

_Once they got there, all eyes turned toward Joey. Hirutani shoved him into the middle of the room and ripped the shawl from his body._

_Gasps sounded around the room as Joey stood there under the licentious gazes of the others. He kept his eyes to the ground so he wouldn't have to see them._

"_He really is a looker," commented someone from behind him._

"_What I wouldn't give to fuck his ass," said another._

"_That's enough, boys. I said look, not touch," ground out Hirutani. If anyone was going to be fucking Joey's ass, it would be him. "Now, are you ready for the next part of the deal?"_

_The others nodded._

_Hirutani approached Joey then, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him up against him. "After this, no one lays a hand on him. Is that clear?"_

_They nodded again._

"_Hirutani, what are you doing?" Joey whispered._

"_Showing them that you belong to me," Hirutani replied before latching his mouth to Joey's neck. He started sucking on it roughly as his hand trailed down to the blond's limp member. When a calloused hand wrapped its way around him, Joey gasped._

_He couldn't believe this was happening. Not only had Hirutani promised the others that they'd get to see him naked, but he'd also promised them a show. Hirutani might have thought he was pleasuring him, but Joey was absolutely terrified._

_The gang leader pumped his hand up and down Joey's shaft, quickening his pace as he sucked harder on the blond's neck. And after a while, Joey couldn't take it anymore and came all over Hirutani's hand, his gasp diminishing into a whimper._

_When Hiruntani pulled away, he grinned proudly at the prominent hicky and glazed expression he'd left on the blond._

"_You've had your fun, now get out," Hirutani spat at them venomously._

_They didn't have to hear that twice, because they bolted from the warehouse within seconds._

_Joey tried to fight the tears that stung his eyes, but he didn't succeed. And he knew he'd get hit by Hirutani for showing any kind of weakness. But Hirutani surprised him with kindness instead. He reached out and brushed the blond's tears away, kissing him on the lips._

"_I'm sorry, Joey," he whispered. "This was the only way I could protect you. It was an act. It was all an act."_

_Joey let his tears fall freely then. He felt humiliated, used, and…broken. Hirutani was sick. He was sick and twisted. He didn't care about him! He only cared about his reputation!_

"_You're not sorry," the blond ground out. "And you weren't protecting me. If you really wanted to protect me…you wouldn't have made me do this."_

"_That's not true and you know it!" Hirutani snapped._

_Joey collapsed on his knees, crying. "Yes, it is! You took everything I ever had! All I ever loved! You took my dignity, my self-respect, my honor, my innocence! And for what? Just so that you could improve your reputation?"_

_Hirutani paused. "I…care…about you."_

"_Well…I…hate…you."_

"_You don't mean that."_

"_Yes, I do."_

"_You don't mean that! I gave you everything!"_

"_You left me with nothing!" Joey screamed at him. "I can't feel anymore. You took that all away from me. I can't smile. I can't care. I can't love. I can't feel anything."_

_Hirutani swallowed hard as he stared at the expressionless face of the one he'd inadvertently broken. And he left._

_And Joey knew he left. Because it meant that his heart could finally die alone._

* * *

Joey screamed, all his pent up emotions ripping from his body as Brron withdrew himself from the shaking blond. His eyes turned to Jaden once more. Still nothing. Brron was furious. He'd wasted his time. And now they were going to pay.

Brron stormed over to the cage that held Jaden and kicked it furiously. "Damn you!"

Jaden let out a small yelp, but it was enough to slowly bring Joey to his senses. "You leave my son alone!"

The Mad King backhanded him. "Shut up! I have had it with these…ridiculous memories of yours. I should have killed you from the start. No. I should have killed the _boy _from the start. And that's exactly what I'll do," said Brron. "Scarr!"

"Yes, my lord," answered the scout immediately as he came back into the dungeon.

"Unlock his cage. It's time to make them pay for wasting my time."

Scarr grinned. He unlocked the cage holding Jaden and yanked the small boy out, dropping him on the ground in a small heap before Joey.

"Jaden," Joey cried softly. He tried to will himself to move, but his body just wouldn't respond. "My little Jaden."

Brron reached down and grabbed Jaden by the throat, lifting him up. The small boy struggled in his grip, whimpering loudly.

"Take a good look at him," said Brron, "because this is the last time you'll see him alive."

And then he lost it. Joey lost himself. He snarled, yanking at the chains with all his might, and when they finally snapped, Brron dropped Jaden to the floor, startled.

"Never…touch…my son…again," Joey growled, glaring at Brron as he seemed to stalk him, but something was different. His eyes had changed to a crimson red.

Suddenly, Scarr's whip caught him in the back. But this only served to anger Joey further. A burst of energy seemed to ripple throughout the room.

Brron backed away when he noticed Akai, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon, disappearing. Then it dawned on him. In Joey's rage, he'd unlocked fusing with his dragon.

The force of the power that surged through Joey finally settled. The new creature who stood before them looked nothing like the gentle blond from before. He still had his humanoid form, but his body was encased in an armor resembling his Red-Eyes Black Dragon and his eyes were just as red as Akai's had been.

"I…am Lord of the Red," Joey said in a deep voice. He caught Scarr around the throat and lifted him upward. "And you will pay for what you have done to me and my son."

Joey's dragon tail whipped up and through Scarr's body. And when he tossed the scout onto the floor, he was nothing more than stone. Turning, he glared fully at Brron, making the Mad King flinch.

He was in for it now. He knew it. But, perhaps not. The darkness was flowing quite readily through Joey now. There was a chance—as slim as it was—that he could manipulate the blond into doing his bidding.

"If you want to exact your revenge," started Brron, "you'll have to catch me first." A burst of darkness filled the room, taking Brron and Joey with it as it disappeared.

Yubel couldn't feel Joey anymore…and she didn't know if that was good…or bad. She looked over at Jaden, who appeared quite terrified.

"Jaden?" she called. "Let me out of this net. Then we'll try to find him, okay?"

The small boy nodded and did as she asked. When Yubel was finally free, she pulled Jaden into her arms, comforting him in the best way she knew how.

Just what had Joey done to himself? She'd never seen the blond react in such a way. Had the pain been so great that he'd let the darkness into his heart? Either way, he'd saved his son…but at what cost?

* * *

**End Chapter**


	19. 3rd Thursday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 19 – Thursday**

"This is _really _starting to fucking piss me off!" Bakura snapped.

Currently they were trapped…on a stairway in the goddamn tower. Sometime yesterday, as they were making their way upward, the darkness had surrounded them, trapping them on the stairs. And whenever they moved either up the stairs or down them, they'd temporarily disappear and then reappear in the same place.

"Can't any of you guys do anything?" Marik asked the not-so-ephemeral Duel Spirits.

"The last time someone asked that, we nearly got ourselves blown up," barked Aoi. "Just use your White Lighting attack on the darkness," he said imitating Marik. "_Then _what happened? My attack came at us from behind!"

"Everyone just shut the fuck up! This is getting up nowhere!" roared Seto. He didn't know what to do either. But he felt like he was wasting precious time.

* * *

Joey _knew _he'd found Brron. He could feel it. "Show yourself," he growled. "I know you're in here."

"But of course I am. I led you here, my pet," came Brron's voice.

The blond bristled, his red eyes glowing. "Come out and face me. You threatened my son. No one threatens my son. No one takes him away from me."

"I may have taken him away from you, but someone else has come to take him, too," said Brron, blending in with the shadows.

"You're lying."

"Am I? Someone has taken Jaden from you before, correct? When you didn't want him to?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Let me refresh your memory then. The first time I came to take Jaden away, your lover's dragon chased me away, but I was still very much aware of what happened afterward. Seto took Jaden from you, did he not? You wanted to keep holding your son. You wanted to protect him. But Seto took him from your arms."

It…_was_ true…however, Seto hadn't meant nay harm by it. "That's not the same thing. Seto loves Jaden. He would never hurt him," insisted Joey.

Brron smiled. "If that were true…then why did he leave you and Jaden when you begged him to stay? You were scared…vulnerable…Seto left you. He left you and Jaden all alone."

Joey was struggling with himself. He felt an unwanted hatred for the brunet he called his lover. Everything Brron said was true.

"And he's back to get Jaden. Seto's come here to take Jaden away from you," continued Brron.

"What?" Joey gasped, still fighting what he was feeling. "He…He wouldn't take him from me…would he?"

"He doesn't care about you," said Brron, stepping out of the darkness. "He only wants Jaden. He's only worried about Jaden. Not you."

The blond shook his head disbelievingly. "You're lying." If he really thought that, then why did he suddenly feel as if Brron were telling him the truth?

"Look deep inside your heart and tell me that it isn't true," urged Brron. He now stood directly in front of him.

"Liar!" Joey snarled, lunging at Brron.

The darkness surrounding the tower finally disappeared, revealing the large room they were in. With all the strength he possessed, the blond ran full force to the window, shoving Brron out of it with all his might. The Mad King screamed all the way down.

* * *

"Did you guys hear that?" asked Yami, detecting the sound of a scream.

"The darkness is gone. Let's go!" shouted Marik.

They sprinted up the rest of the staircase, finding themselves in a fairly large room. And someone—who looked like a humanoid version of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon—stood staring out the window.

"Joey?" Seto gasped when he turned around. "Is that you?"

The blond didn't respond. He just kept staring at them.

"You're all right. Where's Jaden?" the brunet inquired immediately.

Joey glared at him and let out a furious roar. Darkness seemed to burst from his body, forming a Duel Disk on his left arm.

"He was right. Brron was right. You just want Jaden!" he snapped.

"Puppy," Seto whispered, taking a step back. "What's happened to you?"

"Duel me! I'm going to make you pay for leaving me!" Joey cried. Everyone could feel his pain…his anguish.

"I'm…not going to," replied Seto.

"I think you're going to have to," said Aoi. "Joey's fused with Akai. But there seems to be a great darkness within him. If you duel…and win, you'll be able to destroy the darkness and Joey and Akai will be back to normal."

The brunet really didn't want to duel him, but it he had no choice…

"Fine. I'll duel you," announced Seto.

"Master, I really think you should fuse with me first. This is going to be a difficult duel to get through. You'll need me. And if we fuse, it'll give your deck a little upgrade," stated Aoi.

Seto nodded, not sure how fusing really worked out. But when he started seeing Aoi fade, he knew it was happening.

His outfit got a bit of a make-over, along with having longer hair and a Blue-Eyes White Dragon helm. He even _felt _powerful.

"Duel!" he and Joey cried at once. Their Life Points set to 4000 each.

"I'll go first!" said Joey, drawing a card. "I summon Red-Eyes B. Chick (ATK 800 / DEF 500) in attack mode and activate its effect. By sending it to the Graveyard, I can summon my Red-Eyes B. Dragon (ATK 2400 / DEF 2000) from my hand in attack mode. But I'm not finished yet! I activate the spell card, Inferno Fire Blast! Since I control Red-Eyes B. Dragon, this spell deals damage to _you_equal to my dragon's original attack!"

Seto's Life Points dropped to 1600.

"And since I can't attack with my Red-Eyes this turn, I set a card," finished Joey.

"I summon Cyberdark Horn (ATK 800 / DEF 800) in attack mode and activate its effect. When this monster is Normal Summoned, I can equip it with a Level 3 or lower Dragon-Type monster from either player's Graveyard. Cyberdark Horn will then gain attack points equal to that of the equipped monster. I equip your Red-Eyes B. Chick to my Cyberdark Horn, giving my monster 1600 attack points. And my Cyberdark Horn also has a piercing effect."

Joey grunted in response.

"I activate Megamorph and equip it to my Cyberdark Horn. Since my Life Points are lower than yours, I can double the original attack of my equipped monster. By equipping it to my Cyberdark Horn, its original attack, which was 800, doubles, bringing its attack to 2400. Now I attack your Red-Eyes B. Dragon!"

"You'll destroy _your _monster, too!"

"Not exactly. It has one more effect you should know about. If Cyberdark Horn is about to be destroyed by battle, its equipped Dragon can be destroyed instead to prevent its destruction."

"Then I activate my trap card, Negate Attack! This cancels your Cyberdark Horn's attack and forces you to end your Battle Phase!" interrupted Joey.

"I set a card and end my turn, then."

Joey drew a card and grinned. "I tribute my Red-Eyes B. Dragon to Special Summon my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon (ATK 2400 / DEF 2000) in attack mode! Now, my dragon's effect activates. It gains 300 extra attack for every Dragon in my Graveyard, and since only my Red-Eyes B. Dragon is there, my dragon's attack becomes 2700. I attack your Cyberdark Horn with my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon!"

Seto's Life Points dropped to 1300; however, due to Cyberdark Horn's ability, it saved itself from destruction by destroying the equipped Red-Eyes B. Chick instead. But when this card returned to Joey's Graveyard, his Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon gained another attack boost, bringing its attack to 3000.

"I end my turn," said Joey. But during his End Phase, he activated Super Rejuvenation, which allowed him to draw one card for every Dragon that was discarded or tribute in the last turn. Since he had tribute his Red-Eyes B. Dragon, he drew one card.

"I switch my Cyberdark Horn to defense mode. Now, I summon Cyberdark Edge (ATK 800 / DEF 800) in attack mode. I activate Edge's effect! Like my Cyberdark Horn, when Cyberdark Edge is Normal Summoned, I can equip it with a Level 3 or lower Dragon-Type monster form either player's Graveyard. I equip your Red-Eyes B. Chick to my Cyberdark Edge, bringing its attack up to 1600. And since Red-Eyes B. Chick is out of your Graveyard, your Darkness Dragon's attack drops to 2700."

Seto then attacked with his Cyberdark Edge and activated its effect. By halving his Edge's attack, he attacked Joey's Life Points directly, bringing them down to 3200. To end his turn, he set one card.

"You're going to pay _dearly _for that!" Joey snapped. "I activate Dragon Heart! By activating this card, I cannot Normal Summon or Set another monster, but I can send 3 Dragons from my Deck to my Graveyard and increase the attack of 1 Dragon I control by 1000. I target my Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon, which brings its attack points to 3700. And now that my Troop Dragon, Mirage Dragon, and Attachment Dragon are all in the Graveyard, my dragon gains an additional 900 attack points!"

Joey's Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon had an attack of 4600 and he chose to attack Seto's Cyberdark Edge.

"I activate Power Wall!" said Seto. "By sending one card from my Deck to my Graveyard, I can reduce the Battle Damage I'm about to take by 100 points for every card sent. I send thirty cards to my Graveyard from my Deck. This leaves only three, so I take _no _Battle Damage! Furthermore, since Cyberdark Edge was about to be destroyed in battle, Red-Eyes B. Chick gets destroyed instead."

But with Red-Eyes B. Chick returning to Joey's Graveyard again, his dragon's attack rose to 4900.

"I activate Dragon's Gunfire!" roared Joey. "Now I can choose one of two effects. I can either inflict 800 points of damage to you or destroy one of your monsters with 800 defense or less. I choose to destroy your Cyberdark Edge!"

When Joey's End Phase came, the effect of Dragon's Heart wore off, weakening his Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon's attack by 1000. It now had 3900 attack points.

"I activate Call of the Haunted," announced Seto. "Now I can Special Summon a monster from my Graveyard in attack mode. I choose my Cyberdark Horn (ATK 800 / DEF 800). And I"ll also summon Cyberdark Keel (ATK 800 / DEF 800) in attack mode. And I activate Polymerization to fuse my Cyberdark Horn, Cyberdark Edge, and Cyberdark Keel to summon Cyberdark Dragon (ATK 1000 / DEF 1000) in attack mode!"

"That's it?"

"There's more. When Cyberdark Dragon is summoned, I can equip any Dragon-Type monster from either player's Graveyard to it. Then, Cyberdark Dragon will gain attak equal to that of the equipped monster. I equip my Cyberdark Dragon with your Red-Eyes B. Dragon, bringing its attack to 3400, draining your dragon's attack down to 3600. But my Cyberdark Dragon has one more ability."

Joey gritted his teeth.

"Its attack can increase even further. For every card in my Graveyard, my Cyberdark Dragon gains an extra 100 points. And since I have thirty-seven cards in my Graveyard, its attack becomes 7100!"

"No!" Joey cried.

Seto paused for a moment. "I love you, Joey. With all my heart. Now…I'll attack your Red-Eyes Darkness Dragon with my Cyberdark Dragon!"

As soon as the blond's Life Points his zero, he screamed. The darkness within in shattered. And he collapsed to the ground as Akai left his body. Aoi left his own at the same time.

"Puppy," Seto gasped, racing over to him. The others did, too.

And when the brunet finally reached Joey, he nearly cried. His Puppy was naked. Wounds from a whip of some sort lacerated his torso. The blond's breathing was shallow yet labored and his eyes held a painful expression.

Taking off his trench coat, he covered his Puppy and knelt next to him, settling Joey's head in his lap.

"Find…J-Jaden," he rasped. It hurt to breathe.

Tears stung Seto's eyes. "I'm not leaving you, Puppy. Not again. Not _ever _again."

"Jaden," Joey repeated.

"He's here," called out Yubel, carrying the small boy over to them, but not too close. She didn't want Jaden to see Joey too clearly. "He's all right. He's fine."

"G-Good," the blond exhaled.

"Puppy, look at me," ordered Seto, afraid that Joey was slipping away. "I need you to tell me where you're hurt."

"Everywhere," Joey replied slowly. "B-Brron…d-dislocated my…arms. And he…I-I'm cold…a-and…numb. So numb."

"Kaiba, we need to fix his arms," said Bakura.

"B-But—"

"We _need _to," the former thief insisted.

Seto nodded in compliance.

"Hold him down while I pop his arms back in," ordered Bakura.

The brunet rested Joey's head on the ground while the others held him down. Bakura popped the blond's left arm back in first, concerned when his body didn't jolt as it should have. When he popped in Joey's right arm, he noticed that the blond didn't even so much as try to kick. Something wasn't right.

Seto placed Joey's head back in his lap, cradling him. "What are you doing?" he hissed when Bakura pulled up the trench coat, exposing Joey's legs.

"Joey, do you feel this?" the former thief asked, running his hands up the blond's legs.

"No."

"What about this?" Next, he poked Joey's legs with his fingernail.

"No," the blond repeated.

Seto was confused. "What—"

Bakura shook his head. Joey was too far into a delicate state of mind right now to be burdened with anything else. And if he was right—which he seriously hoped he wasn't—then the blond's condition had just gotten more critical.

They needed to get Joey home. And they needed to do it soon.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	20. 3rd Friday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 20 – Friday**

Aoi cuddle next to Akai as best as he could. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon was fairly weak and he'd been asleep ever since he'd separated from Joey's body yesterday. It hurt knowing that he couldn't do anything to help him, so all the white dragon could do was wait.

Akai grunted slightly before opening his eyes. He felt warm…secure…

"You're awake," Aoi said, relief filling his voice. "I was getting worried."

"Aoi," Akai rasped, trying to sit up. "Where's—"

"Your Master is…sleeping…for now. Yubel is looking after Jaden and Bakura is trying to figure out a way to get back home."

"What happened to Brron?"

"As far as we know, he's gone," Aoi paused briefly. "Do you feel like talking about what happened?"

Akai closed his eyes, trying to will away the images that flashed through his mind. "I'd…rather not. What he did to my Master…I couldn't help him…I was forced to sit there and watch as he…as he…"

"Shh," hushed Aoi gently, nuzzling the black dragon's muzzle. "Just relax. It's over now."

"No…it's not. My Master…he…I felt him when we joined together. There would have been no way he could have supported himself on his own," stated Akai.

"What do you mean?"

Akai turned tear-filled eyes to him. "His body is damaged, Aoi. And I think it's beyond repair."

* * *

Seto stroked Joey's flushed face. He had a fever and it didn't seem to want to go down. The blond's breathing was erratic, he was incredibly weak, and…he didn't seem to want to move.

Joey's eyes suddenly fluttered open.

"Hey," said Seto.

"Hey," came Joey's soft reply.

"How are you feeling?"

He didn't answer.

"We're going to get out of here as soon as we can. Then we'll get you healthy again and everything will be back to normal," Seto started encouragingly, but he was having a hard time even convincing himself of that.

"I don't know…if it…will be."

"What won't?"

"I know…my body…and something's…not right. Brron did—"

"Puppy, let's not talk about that right now," he interrupted, stroking Joey's hair as he fought tears. "Let's think about the future."

"The future," Joey paused as he tried to take a deep breath. "What…about?"

"We can think about our Duel Academy…what we're going to do with Jaden, Serenity, and Mokuba this summer…Jaden's birthday because we'll need to plan him a party…him starting kindergarten this fall…all kinds of things. And I can't do them without you, Puppy. I can't."

"But…what if…you have to?"

"Puppy, please don't talk like that. You need to stay with me. Keep fighting. You need to keep fighting," Seto insisted, his tears falling.

"I'm tired…so tired," Joey said, pained.

"I know how to get back," Bakura announced suddenly as he was followed by the others on his way over to Seto and Joey.

"How?" responded the brunet.

"Similar to the way we got here. We'll need to join with our Duel Spirits again. But this time, we'll have to concentrate on where we want to end up at the same time in order to move through the portal," explained Bakura.

"But…Jaden doesn't…have one," said Joey.

"I can do it," stated Yubel. "You already have Akai as your Duel Spirit. And since Jaden and I are the odd ones out, I can join with him."

The blond stared at her for a minute. "Fine."

"So…where are we going to think about going?" inquired Yami.

"Home," said Seto. "The Kaiba Mansion. Right where we were when we left…Jaden's bedroom."

"Is that spot all right with everyone?" asked Bakura.

They all nodded.

"And as soon as we get home…we need to take Joey to the hospital," added Seto, still staring at the blond.

"Then we'd better do this now," announced Akai, already fading into Joey. The others seemed to be doing the same.

With the guidance of the Duel Spirits, they helped solidify their destined location in their minds. And after some time, a new portal opened around them, sucking them in.

* * *

Seto opened his eyes. They were back. Smiling, he looked down at Joey, but his smile soon faded. The blond looked even worse now.

"Someone help me get Joey into some clothes," he ordered. "And call an ambulance."

Marik scrambled into the next room to get some clothes while Yami raced off to call 911. Bakura grabbed Jaden and took him out of the room.

A few minutes later, Joey was dressed and being placed on a stretcher. The EMTs didn't ask too many questions, for which Seto was relieved. But when they didn't allow him to ride with Joey in the ambulance, he nearly freaked.

"Kaiba, listen to me," implored Bakura. "You're of no help to Joey if you lose it. We'll just hitch a ride to the hospital, call the others to meet us there, and support Joey all we can. That's _all _we can do right now, Kaiba. That's _all _we can do."

Seto knew Bakura was right…but what if it wasn't enough? He didn't think he could survive if he lost Joey.

* * *

By the time they reached the hospital, Joey was already in the ER. They'd called their friends, but they were stuck at their high school graduation for the time being, but they promised to get there as soon as possible.

An hour passed before they received any news.

"Mr. Kaiba?" called the doctor, stepping into the waiting room.

"Yes?" Seto responded immediately, rising from his seat.

"I'm…afraid I have some good news and some bad news."

The brunet felt his heart plummet.

"The good news is that Mr. Wheeler is going to live. The bad news is the condition he's in and it…may be permanent. The lacerations to his chest and back will definitely leave scars. And even though his dislocated arms were reset, he's still going to need some time to recover their use. However…Mr. Wheeler's spinal cord was damaged from the inside," said the doctor, letting his words sink in. "He's paralyzed from the waist down."

"What?" Seto gasped.

"We can put him in physical therapy along with some other treatments, but…the chance of him ever walking again…let alone regaining feeling in his legs…is _very _slim. I'm sorry, Mr. Kaiba."

The brunet felt like he was dreaming. This couldn't be real!

"Would you like to see him?" inquired the doctor. "He's awake and has been asking for you."

Seto nodded, unable to speak. He followed the doctor down the hall, where the older man pointed at the door to Joey's room. Stepping inside, he found a nurse checking Joey's vitals.

"Hello," she said sweetly. "It's nearly lunchtime, so you can help feed Mr. Wheeler when his lunch comes. And then we'll discuss his future caretaking, all right?"

The brunet nodded again and took a seat near his Puppy. When he heard her leave, he leaned over and kissed Joey on the lips lightly.

"Did they tell you?" the blond asked tearfully.

"Yes," Seto rasped out. "The doctor says there's a slim chance that you can make a full recovery." His eyes roamed Joey's body. Both of his arms were currently I slings. "We're just going to do our best to get through this, okay?"

"Okay," Joey said, trying not to cry.

"Puppy," Seto began, cupping the blond's face in his hands, "I love you. You know that, right? I love you," he insisted.

"I love you, too."

They were interrupted by the sound of the food cart entering the room.

"All right," announced the nurse, placing the food tray over Joey's lap. It held a bowl of chicken broth, some water and juice. "We'll just be starting with fluids. Now, Mr. Kaiba, would you mind feeding him? And let's just concentrate on eating. One spoonful at a time."

And then she left.

Seto stared at the bowl and picked up the spoon. Dipping it into the broth, he blew it until it was cool enough before inserting the spoon into Joey's mouth. He repeated the process several times in silence.

"You hate this…don't you?" inquired Joey.

"What?" Seto asked, confused.

"Taking care of me like this," the blond explained. "You hate it."

"I do _not _hate taking care of you, Puppy. Don't even _think_ that! I would take care of you no matter what."

Joey shook his head. "You have a company to look after, Duel Academy to start up, the kids to take care of. I'll just be…a burden to you. You _can't _take care of me."

"What are you saying?" Seto looked at him desperately.

"I'm saying…you don't deserve this. I don't…deserve you. I'm damaged now and you…you deserve better than me. I can't…I can't do this!"

"Puppy, look at me," Seto begged. The blond did. "Do you love me?"

"Of course, I do," Joey whispered.

"Then that's all that matters. I love you so much, Puppy. Nothing is _ever _going to change that," Seto insisted.

"But you'll get sick of taking care of me! You'll grow to hate me for it! I _know _you will!" Suddenly, Joey grew hysterical. He was crying and his heart monitor was all over the place.

"Mr. Kaiba, I need to ask you to leave," announced the nurse as she made her way into the room.

Soon, Seto found himself being dragged back out into the waiting room. And that's when he lost it. He fell to his knees, crying and screaming. Seto was hurting because Joey wouldn't believe him; he wouldn't believe that someone would stay with them no matter what out of love.

"Calm down, Seto," said Bakura, grabbing the brunet around the arms and chest as he hugged him from behind.

"Don't call me that!" Seto spat, trying to struggle away from him

"It's too bad, Seto! I'm _going _to call you Seto whether you like it or not! Now, calm down!" argued the former thief.

It was then the others arrived, and they were a bit shocked to see Bakura hugging Seto while he cried.

"I-Is everything all right with Joey?" inquired Tea hesitantly.

"H-He's going t-to push me away," Seto sobbed. "I-I can't…d-deal with that. I love him. I-I love him so much!"

Seto had finally calmed, but just barely.

"Mr. Kaiba?" interrupted the doctor tentatively. "We have…sedated Mr. Wheeler for the time being. In his weakened state, his mind probably couldn't take the stress of everything that's happened and he just cracked under the pressure. He needs time to heal, Mr. Kaiba…and I think you do, too."

The doctor left, leaving everyone to just stand there and stare after him.

It was then Seto fell limp in Bakura's arms. Apparently Joey wasn't the only one who couldn't handle the pressure. Everyone just hoped that _both _of their minds could handle it. Because if not…they didn't know what else they could do.

* * *

**End Chapter**


	21. 3rd Saturday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 21 – Saturday**

Yubel stared at Joey's sleeping form on the hospital bed in thought. She wasn't contemplating whether she could help the blond; she was debating whether she should. All she'd ever done in his life was take the pain away. In a sense, Yubel had crippled him…and not in the physical sense. If Joey was every going to grow, he had to face his demons.

She sighed, not knowing what to do. Looking back, Yubel realized that Joey had never once _asked _for her help; she'd always offered…and after much consideration, the blond had often conceded. But not always.

Not once had Joey ever asked to take away any physical pain. His injuries were something he could hide. The emotional pain that came with it, however, he could not. And with how the blond's life had once been, maintaining an indestructible persona was key for his survival.

But now…his life was different. He had people who cared for him, loved him, and he was throwing it all away because he couldn't bear the fact that someone would be there for him no matter what. Life had taught him to _not _depend on others. It had been a miracle that he'd even chosen to _stay _with Seto in the first place.

Never again would she take away his bad memories just because she could. And never again would she be able to help him after she…did what needed to be done.

* * *

Everyone had slept in the waiting room that night. No one wanted to leave, especially if something changed with Joey's condition.

When the others had heard the news of what happened to Joey, most had broken down in tears. Bakura told them that the blond didn't need their pity, but their strength and support. If they couldn't hold it together, how was _Joey _supposed to? That had virtually shut them up, astounded that the former thief could give such…valuable advice.

Seto stared at the sleeping forms of…his friends. They'd stayed with him and comforted him throughout the entire night while Joey had been in a heavily sedated state. And now…he desperately hoped that Joey's condition would be better…at least mentally.

Walking down the hall, Seto quietly entered the blond's hospital room. The sunrise was peeking through the open blinds as he marched over to the bed and sat down in the chair next to him. His eyes roamed Joey's body, pleased that there seemed to be a bit more color on his face and his breathing even.

Joey took a deep breath, his hospital gown sliding down his chest some. At this, Seto frowned. Yesterday he had inspected nearly every inch of the blond. He knew the damage that had been done inside and out, but something was different. Lifting the gown just a little bit, he peeked down at what should have been his Puppy's horribly scarred chest.

But it wasn't. Simply put, the scars weren't there. And there was no indication that there had been any wounds in the first place. How had he healed?

His curiosity getting the best of him, Seto tentatively reached down and ran his hand along Joey's leg.

He twitched. Joey's leg had twitched.

And now he couldn't take it anymore.

"Puppy?" Seto called hopefully, wishing this wasn't just some twisted dream. He had to know if what he was seeing was real.

Joey opened his eyes and saw Seto. He smiled gently and lifted his hand, lightly touching the brunet's cheek with his fingers.

"Seto," he whispered.

Taking Joey's hand in his, he kissed it. "Puppy, I want you to do me a little favor, okay?"

"Okay," replied the blond, puzzled. He still seemed out of it from the sedatives they'd given him.

"I want you to try to wiggle your toes."

"Seto," said Joey helplessly.

"Just try," the brunet begged. "Please."

His Puppy turned his eyes to his feet. Since his lower half was covered in a blanket, he couldn't really see the condition his body was in. He was hesitant to try wiggling his toes because he was afraid that if he did so…he wouldn't be able to.

"Puppy."

Swallowing convulsively, Joey stared at his toes, his brain telling them to move. And they did. His eyes lit up and his gaze shot to Seto.

"I moved them!" he cried. "B-But how?"

"I don't know, Puppy. I don't know. Can…you move your legs any?" inquired Seto.

"I-I'll try, but…my legs feel kind of heavy," the blond replied. He attempted drawing his legs to himself, and after much effort, he succeeded. "I regained the use of my legs."

"Yes, but we're probably not out of the woods yet. Let me go get the doctor," Seto exclaimed excitedly, giving his Puppy a kiss before racing off.

Joey smiled. He'd been given a second chance…and he wasn't going to waste it.

* * *

Yubel looked over Joey's smiling face lovingly. He couldn't see her anymore…and would never see her again. Healing his body had literally severed her soul from his. She'd left his memories alone this time, too. The only thing she'd done was remove the physical scars and given him the potential to use his legs again.

However, Joey was going to have to work _very _hard to bring his body back to the way it used to be. And she couldn't wait to see him try. It would be like a mother watching her child take his first steps. Yubel would be there to see it and be proud.

Even though she was no longer Joey's guardian, she didn't have the heart to leave completely. So, by making herself Jaden's guardian, she could watch over her beloved blond, but never interfere again.

At least with _his _life. Jaden was another story entirely.

* * *

"I…I don't know how to explain this," exclaimed the doctor, wide-eyed as he stared at Joey. "I've run tests…and everything! I can't explain what happened!"

"All I can say is that I'm glad it _did _happen. But now, what can we _do _about it?" inquired Seto in a business-like manner.

"W-Well…even though Mr. Wheeler had regained feeling and function in his legs, he's still a bit too weak to support himself. He'll still need to undergo some physical therapy. A wheelchair for a few days, perhaps. Then we'll move onto crutches. In a matter of weeks, he should be walking normally again," informed the doctor, who was still quite stunned.

"When…can I go home?" interceded Joey, looking at both the doctor and Seto anxiously. "Is there any chance I can go home today?"

The doctor sighed and stared at his patient for a full minute. "Mr. Kaiba, it is my understanding that you have a personal doctor, correct?"

"That is correct," replied the brunet.

"I would like to monitor Mr. Wheeler through him. And I suppose…since he's currently stable…that you may take him home today."

Seto turned and looked to his Puppy. "Are you ready to go home?"

"You know I am."

* * *

They were finally home. And after many hugs and kisses from Jaden, Mokuba, and Serenity, Seto and Joey were finally left alone in their bedroom.

The blond lay on the bed with Seto curled behind him. He was planting featherlike kisses all along his neck. "I love you, Joey," he whispered.

"I love you, too, Seto."

Seto paused in his ministrations in order to have a serious conversation with him. Ever so gently, he turned his Puppy so that he was now facing him. "You _do _know that no matter what happens to you, I'll take care you…don't you?" inquired the brunet.

"I…I know. It's just that—"

"—you were afraid," Seto finished for him. The look Joey had in his eyes was all he needed to know the answer to that question. "Puppy, had the roles been reversed and it was _me _who'd been in your condition…what would you have done?"

"I would have taken care of you," Joey said, his eyebrows knitting in confusion. "I love you. I wouldn't…oh." It was then that he realized what Seto had been trying to tell him this whole time. How_he_ would feel about Seto if this had happened to him was the brunet's exact reaction to what he _himself_ had undergone.

"Do you get it now?" asked Seto.

Joey smiled. "I get it now."

"Good…because I would _never _abandon you. Not for any reason in the world."

"Same here," replied the blond sleepily. "Goodnight, Dragon."

"Goodnight, Puppy. Sweet dreams."

* * *

**End Chapter**


	22. 4th Sunday

Disclaimer – I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

*Rated M for Mature

* * *

**Chapter 22 – Sunday**

What is love?

That's the question Seto kept asking himself as he stared at Joey, who was currently sleeping next to him in bed. The blond's hair was tussled cutely around his face, showing off his adorable lips. His Puppy meant the world to him, but how could he truly express how he felt if he wasn't even sure _what _love was?

It wasn't about sex. Sure, their relationship was strengthened during the intimacy they shared with one another, but that wasn't all there was. And attraction only went so far. They'd get old and wrinkly one day and _then _where would they be?

Seto _knew _something was there between them, some unseen bond that held them together, making them one. But he could _not _for the life of him tell what that was! What was it that made them…click?

"What's got you so deep in thought?" inquired Joey sleepily as he yawned and turned to face Seto.

"Nothing."

"There _is _something. You avoid eye contact and you frown when there's something you don't want me to know," continued the blond.

Well…his Puppy sure had _him _pegged. "I was just wondering…"

"Go on," Joey encouraged him.

"What is…love?" Seto collapsed with his back against the pillows as he stared up at the ceiling. He was waiting for Joey to respond. He was waiting for his reaction: hurt, pain, sadness…laughter?

"Seto, is that all?" the blond chuckled.

"It's not funny!" the brunet declared.

"I'm sorry," said Joey, his laughter subsiding. "It's just that…you're thinking about a question that's been asked since the beginning of time. Love has no definite answer and it probably never will."

"But…we say that we love each other…and express it, but how do we know it's…really love."

The blond had to admit, he was surprised. He'd never seen Seto so…insecure. "What brought this on?"

Seto shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess I feel like…I haven't done right by you."

"Do you know what I think love is?" Joey asked thoughtfully.

"Sure, but I have to say, it's a step up from how you felt the past two days."

The blond ignored his statement and continued. "I think love means being together. It means sharing your joys and your sorrows with one another…you understand each other. And if need be, you'll give each other space yet be there for each other regardless. Five years from now, ten years from now, the way we feel about each other won't be the same. I know that for a fact."

Seto looked disheartened. "Are you saying that we won't love each other like we do now?"

"Exactly," added Joey. He had to fight a smile when the brunet's expression plummeted. "Because we'll love each other a whole lot more. The longer we're together, the stronger our relationship will grow and our love will blossom even more."

His Dragon beamed, but there was an odd look in his eyes. "You just managed to manipulate me."

"I learn from the best," teased Joey. "But I meant what I said. Our love can only grow stronger from now on and not the other way around, Seto. Sure, we'll probably argue from time to time, but as long as we spend as much time fixing the problem as we do arguing about it, we'll be fine."

Seto couldn't believe how _easy _Joey made it all sound. It was then that he couldn't believe that there were some couples out there who'd been faced with many problems, got through them, and just…left each other. And after all he and Joey had been through together, he could _never _imagine ever leaving him because of it. Why was it that people ran away when things got tough?

"You give really great advice, Puppy," said Seto, nuzzling him. "You're my best friend…my confidant…my lover…You've provided me with so much, and all I want to do is return the support and love you've given me tenfold."

Joey ran his hands through Seto's hair and smiled up at him. "You're really sweet when you're being romantic."

"I'm not through yet. You also make a wonderful parent. And I will cherish every moment of our lives together. Every little thing you do shows that you care for me and your family."

"Like what?"

Seto smirked. "Like the way you pick up my towels off the bathroom floor."

The blond's eyes narrowed. "You leave them there on purpose so that you can just stare at my ass, don't you?"

"That wasn't my intent, but thank you for the idea." The brunet chuckled when Joey glared at him. "But I'm serious, Puppy. All the little things you do make being with you that much more worthwhile…because I know you're doing it out of…love."

Joey placed his head in the crook of Seto's neck and cuddled closer to him. "So, you _do _get what love is."

"I guess I do. I just didn't realize it until now. Love is…multi-faceted; it has many sides and comes in many shapes and forms, but all are connected to love."

"And it's very good that you've realized this, especially now."

"And why is that?"

"Because we aren't going to make love until I can walk again. The doctor says I should stay in the wheelchair for the next few days and do some simple exercises to strengthen my legs," said Joey.

"Can you make it two?"

"Two what?"

"Days."

"And now…we have problem," Joey growled. "Right now, I barely have the strength to even move my legs, let alone walk. My recovery is going to take time and I don't…I don't have the extra energy to…to see to your…sexual needs!" he exclaimed exasperatedly, not really sure how to put what he wanted to say into words.

"Puppy, you misunderstood me!" Seto argued frantically. "I didn't mean two days because I wanted to have sex!"

"Then what did you mean? Because _that's _what it sounded like!"

"We have all the time in the world for something like that. Your recovery is more important. I want you healthy before anything else. I was just hoping that we could get you from the wheelchair to crutches within two days instead of a few because…well…Jaden's birthday is coming up and I thought that…you'd be happier moving around on your own rather than being pushed around in a wheelchair when we have his party," Seto finished lamely.

Joey stared at him for a full minute, not blinking. It unnerved Seto slightly. "You _are _really sweet when you're being romantic…a sappy romantic, anyway."

"Only for you." Seto paused. "And I truly _am_ going to help you through this. I'll be with you every step of the way…no pun intended," he added as an afterthought.

"I know you will. That's why I love you," Joey sighed, kissing Seto sweetly on the lips.

"I love you, too, Puppy."

They kissed for a few minutes before Joey moved away. "What kind of a birthday party did you have in mind?"

"A pool party," Seto answered without thinking. "With your friends and such."

"You're inviting the Yamis?" Joey asked incredulously.

"Yeah."

"To a _pool _party?"

Seto nodded. "What's your point?"

Joey huffed. There was still a lot Seto needed to learn about _their _friends. And the brunet would definitely find that out when he discovered that the Yamis and water did _not _mix very well…and seeing as how it was also their first summer, things would be a bit…unpredictable.

"Sometimes I really _do _love your obliviousness, but now is _not _one of those times," said Joey. He was definitely going to need the help of Yugi, Ryou, and Malik on this one. Supervision to the extreme.

"Huh?"

It was a good thing Seto was extra cute when he was oblivious, so he just pulled his brunet lover down for another heated kiss.

* * *

**End**

**Check out the sequel, Summer Bash!**


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